For some unknown reason, Boston Red Sox starter Jon Lester has gotten off to bad starts in the months of March and April in his career. He went into his start on Thursday night against the Toronto Blue Jays hoping that his last start in April could be build some momentum towards the month of May.
And Lester did just hat as he allowed one hit to help the Red Sox to a 2-0 win and a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays in front of 15,276 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario.
The win for the Red Sox gets them to .500 on the season at 11-11. The Blue Jays fall to 10-12.
Lester was just plain filthy in his outing. He mixed in all of his pitches and moved them all around the plate. This was the Lester we’ve seen before and we can only hope it continues in his next start. He finished with 11 strikeouts and the lone hit came in the first inning off the bat of Vernon Wells.
The bullpen was once again outstanding as Daniel Bard struck out the side after former Red Sox shortstop Alex Gonzalez led off the 8th with a double. Jonathan Papelbon struck out one in the 9th to pick up his seventh save of 2010.
Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre and Darnell McDonald all had two hits for the visiting nine from Boston with McDonald knocking in Beltre with a single in the top of the 7th. The other run for the Red Sox came in off the bat of Dustin Pedroia, whose sacrifice fly plated McDonald in the 6th inning.
It’s the second straight series win for the Red Sox and they now head to Baltimore for another weekend three-game set. They played last weekend with the Red Sox taking two-of-three. A weekend sweep in Baltimore would be nice as the Red Sox will return home next week to host the Angels, Yankees and Blue Jays.
After a day off on Thursday, John Lackey will make his second straight start against the Orioles on Friday night. He’ll be opposed by David Hernandez in the 7:05 p.m. start at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
