There was a little concern about Jon Lester throwing on Sunday afternoon after throwing 23 pitches on Friday night before the rainout. Lester pretty much erased any of those doubts though.
Lester went eight shutout innings, allowing two hits to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in front of 37,271 at Fenway Park in game 2 of a day/night doubleheader.
It’s the fifth straight win for the Red Sox (84-58) while for the Rays (72-71), it’s their eleventh straight loss. The Rays fall 12.5 games behind the Red Sox in the wild card standings. The Red Sox pick up a half game on the Yankees with the two wins on Sunday and are now just seven games back. The Texas Rangers are three games behind and the Seattle Mariners are eleven games behind pending the outcome of their doubleheader on Sunday night.
In his last nineteen starts since May 31st, Lester has been the best pitcher in all of baseball. During that time, he is 10-2 with a 2.02 ERA. He was in a groove all game long as he had excellent command and location of his pitches. Plus his velocity was right there too. His cutter was virtually unhittable. He did give up three walks but recorded seven strikeouts to raise his record to 13-7 with a 3.29 ERA.
Billy Wagner, who would have been in for the save had Jason Bay not wrapped one around Pesky’s Pole in the eighth inning, gave up two hits in the ninth but also had two strikeouts.
James Shields was strong early on but faded towards the end of his six innings. He gave up three runs on six hits and three walks while striking out six.
The only hit and run Lance Cormier allowed in his 1 1/3 innings was the home run by Bay. Rhode Island native Dan Wheeler struck out one in 2/3 of an inning.
The two members of the starting nine without hits were Jacoby Ellsbury and Alex Gonzalez. Mike Lowell knocked in a run while Jason Varitek’s hit was good for 2 RBIs that gave the Red Sox a 3-0 lead. J.D. Drew, batting cleanup in the nightcap, reached base all four times with a single, three walks and two runs scored.
The Red Sox will enjoy a day off on Monday before the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim come to Beantown in a possible Division Series matchup. Daisuke Matsuzaka will make his return to the Red Sox rotation on Tuesday night and he’ll be opposed by John Lackey.
