Jon Lester returned to the mound for the first time since Aug. 23, 2006 and was spectacular in his 1 inning of work. He only needed 8 pitches to retire 3 Minnesota Twins batters on ground balls. He threw 8 pitches, 6 of them for strikes. And of those 8 pitches, 6 of them were also fastballs. 3 of them were clocked at 88 mph, 2 at 89 mph and 1 of them at 90 mph. Lester had this to say about his start after the game:
“I tried to treat it as much as a normal game as I could. I tried not to get too amped up and tried not to worry about it and just get a good night’s sleep and come in here and get my work done and go on and build from here.
“Command was great. I went away when I wanted to go away and went in when I wanted to go in. I was in the general vicinity [with] all my pitches. I don’t know what the velocity was. It felt good. We’ll just build from here and hopefully get stronger as camp goes on, and if the velocity isn’t there, hopefully it will build back up to normal.”
“I don’t think the treatments are a factor right now. I’m still building it back up from the offseason, but I think I’m right about at 85 or 90 percent, getting close and starting to feel a little more comfortable with my body and how things are flowing.”
All I have to say is this. Congratulations Jon. It is nice to have you back on the mound as you continue to get healthy from your cancer battle. This is just great news. If Lester can return to form, it can only bring good things for the Red Sox. The big question is where we will be pitching to start the season. One can only hope if he is 100% and ready to start in Boston, that the Red Sox do what is best for Lester and the team.
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