Jon Lester hadn’t had a good start to the 2009 season for the Boston Red Sox. Well he changed all of that this afternoon with a return to his 2008 form.
Lester went 7 scoreless innings and a couple of 2-out RBIs were all the Red Sox needed in a 2-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles in front of 37,869 of their closest friends on an absolutely stunning afternoon for baseball at Fenway Park.
The win for the Red Sox is their fourth straight as they improve to 6-6. The loss for the Orioles is their fourth straight and they fall to 6-6.
For the first time all season, Lester had complete command of all of his pitches and had great velocity. He allowed only 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 9 in the 7 innings of work. He also had a pickoff of Ty Wigginton at first base. Ramon Ramirez continued his excellent start to the season with a scoreless inning of work. Jonathan Papelbon wasn’t available to pitch today so Takashi Saito worked the 9th, allowing a run on 2 hits but held on to pick up his first save in a Red Sox uniform.
Despite taking the loss, Koji Uehara was impressive for the Orioles this afternoon. He went 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on just 5 hits while walking one and striking out 5. George Sherrill gave up a hit in his inning of work.
Jacoby Ellsbury had 2 of the six hits for the Red Sox. Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell and Nick Green had the others with Pedroia and Lowell each driving in a run on 2-out hits.
The Red Sox got on the board first in the 2nd inning.
Youk continued to tear the cover off the ball as he led off the inning with a double. Uehara got J.D. Drew to foul out and he struck out Jason Bay, who saw his 24-game streak of reaching base come to an end this afternoon. Lowell followed the strikeout with a RBI single to give the Red Sox the 1-0 lead.
Lester ran into a bit of trouble in the 3rd after striking out the first two batters giving up a single and a walk but recovered to get the final out.
Uehara started the 5th inning with a strikeout of George Kottaras, who got the start behind the plate this afternoon. Green followed with a double but Ellsbury flew out for the second out of the inning. Pedroia delivered Green home though with a single to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.
Things stayed that way until the top of the 9th inning when Saito came into close it for the Red Sox.
Nick Markakis led off the inning with a single and went to third on an Aubrey Huff single. Wigginton brought Markakis in with a groundout to third. Saito got Luke Scott to fly out and then struck out pinch-hitter Gregg Zaun to give the Red Sox a 2-1 win.
The run by the bullpen today was the first they’ve given up in 17 2/3 innings but nonetheless they continue to shine. It was great to see Lester return to form as he will be counted on all season long to keep doing that. When he did get in trouble this afternoon, he was able to work out of it, something we hadn’t seen yet this season.
Tomorrow is the annual Patriot’s Day game for the Boston Red Sox. It’s a busy day in Boston as well as you have the Red Sox game, the Boston Marathon, a Boston Celtics playoff game and the Boston Bruins also play although they are in Montreal.
Justin Masterson will make his first start of the 2009 season in place of the injured Daisuke Matsuzaka. Former NBA player Mark Hendrickson will start for the Orioles. First pitch is scheduled for 11:05 AM.
Notes and musings:
Baltimore Orioles @ Boston Red Sox 4.19.09 box score
Mike Timlin threw out the ceremonial first pitch this afternoon along with Elmo.
Tomorrow’s game begins at 11:05 a.m. as is the tradition on Patriots Day, a holiday in Massachusetts and Maine that celebrates the anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride and the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775. The day is also marked by the running of the Boston Marathon, which takes place for the 113th time and goes through Kenmore Square.
The Sox have been scheduled to play at home on Patriots Day every year since 1959. Boston is 3-1 all-time against the Orioles on the holiday, winning the last such meeting, 4-2, on April 21, 1997.
Boston has won six straight against Baltimore and is now 24-6 against the Orioles in the last 30 meetings at Fenway Park.
Jon Lester improved to 7-0 against the Orioles. The last pitcher to win his first seven decisions against Baltimore was Tim Hudson.
Mike Lowell had an RBI to stretch his streak to five games (seven RBIs in that span).
Dustin Pedroia’s RBI was his first since Opening Day.
Red Sox on streaks:
- J.D. Drew saw his hitting streak end at 6 games
- Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 5 games
- Mike Lowell extended his hitting streak to 5 games
- Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 3 games
