With the way Jon Lester was pitching on Tuesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays, it looked like the Boston Red Sox starter could have been on his way to his second career no-hitter. He was that good.
He struck out four of the first six batters he faced. The only blemish he had was a leadoff walk to J. P. Arencibia in the 3rd but he worked around it. He added another strikeout in the 4th inning as well.
But during the break, Red Sox trainer Mike Reinhold was seen talking to Terry Francona and next you thing you know Lester is done for the evening and on his way to the clubhouse. There was a lot of speculation on Twitter as to what it might be and of course with all the cases of intestinal turmoil going through there, that was the main thought.
As time wore on and no update from the Red Sox, the thoughts on Twitter seemed to rise. The longer it took the worse the injury seemed.
Well it turned out to be serious but not too serious as it was announced that Lester left the game with a strained left latissimus dorsi. This is the same injury that Matt Albers suffered earlier in the season and it cost him two weeks on the DL.
To continue reading, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
The speculation is that Lester will miss the same amount of time but we won’t know for sure until he’s examined fully tomorrow by the Red Sox medical staff.
Here’s what Lester had to say about the injury after the game:
“It wasn’t one particular pitch. It was pretty much the whole inning,” said Lester. “It just built up and, at first, talking with [trainer Mike Reinold], I was just trying to go back out there in the fifth. He kind of said no. Him and [manager Terry Francona] always have our best interests. There’s no point in going out and pushing it right now. It’s going to be sore tomorrow. I think if I would have gone out there in the fifth, we possibly could have done some worse damage.
“I’d never take myself out of the game if it wasn’t something significant,” the left-hander added. “We’ll get it looked at tomorrow, see how I feel. Luckily, we have the All-Star break built in, so hopefully we don’t have to do anything drastic around here.”
Lester was scheduled to start on Sunday but obviously he won’t be doing that. According to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe via Twitter, Alfredo Aceves will be making the start for Lester.
While it remains to be seen whether or not Lester goes on the disabled list, I’d have to think with Aceves stepping into the rotation temporarily the Red Sox will put him on the DL and bring up someone for the bullpen. This would be their best option going forward to save the bullpen who’s had to be used extensively over the past two nights now.
Photo credit: Getty Images
