Jon Lester #31 of the Boston Red Sox smiles after he made an assist on a ball hit back to the mound by Coco Crisp #4 of the Oakland Athletics in the sixth inning at Fenway Park on May 3, 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Every time that Jon Lester takes the mound for the Boston Red Sox, he’s pitching for his future. He won’t say that he is but when you’re in your walk year, you always have something to prove.

Lester showed everyone why he’s an elite starting pitcher on Saturday as he struck out a career-high 15 Oakland A’s in a 6-3 win for the Red Sox.

He only allowed one hit and a walk as well over those eight innings. Chris Capuano ran into some trouble but Koji Uehara preserved the win with save No. 7 on the year.

Jonny Gomes got things going for the Red Sox with a grand slam in the 1st inning. David Ortiz and David Ross added solo home runs to complete the scoring for the home side.

PC/ MOBILE/TABLET LINK (full game recap)

For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Oakland Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle websites.

photo credit: getty images