Lester Goes The Distance In Win Over M's (16-19)

Lester threw a complete
game last night

Again and again, the Red Sox have proven that they are the streakiest team in the majors as their current four-game winning streak illustrates. As usual, they got going very quickly offensively when Dustin Pedroia walked with an out in the first. David Ortiz then came up and promptly gave the Sox a 1-0 lead by banging a double off the monster, the ball ricocheted unpredictably and Pedroia scored easily for the Sox. However, Ortiz would certainly not be stranded as the next batter, Adrian Gonzalez, knocked him in on a double to left to give the Sox a 2-0 lead over the Mariners. It would have seemed that the Sox had something going again in the second, but with a runner on first and two outs-- Marlon Byrd was caught stealing by former Yankees' prospect Jesus Montero-- traded for the currently injured Michael Pineda this offseason. Again, the Red Sox scoring started with just a runner on first in the bottom of the fourth. However, that run would come in quite quickly as Daniel Nava rocketed a two-run homer into the green monster to give the Sox a 4-0 lead.

Daniel Nava had a two-run
home run

With the way that Jon Lester was pitching, that probably would have been enough but they continued to tack on runs in the fourth. Even after Marlon Byrd's flyout, Kelly Shoppach took advantage of a high fastball and hammered it over the green monster-- almost onto Landsdowne Street-- for his first home run of the year. After several scoreless innings by both sides, the Sox got going again in the eighth when they loaded the bases with one out on a single, double, and intentional walk. Marlon Byrd chipped a little fly ball into right field and into the waiting arms of Ichiro, but Will Middlebrooks  was able to hustle it out and it wasn't even a play at home, so the Sox would take a 6-0 lead late. Having only thrown around 100 pitches, Jon Lester headed back out for the ninth inning and put a pair of runners in scoring position with one out. Kyle Seager grounded out to second, producing the only Mariners run of the game and a strikeout by Alex Liddi would official close the book on the game.

Bright Spots:
Jon Lester- 9 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 6 K, CG (1), W (2-3)
David Ortiz- 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Adrian Gonzalez- 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Cody Ross- 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B
Daniel Nava- 1-2, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Marlon Byrd- 1-3, 1 SF, 1 RBI
Kelly Shoppach- 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI

Dull Spots:
Mike Aviles- 0-4, 1 K, 1 LOB

Player of the Game- Jon Lester pitched a great ballgame today, almost throwing a shutout but settling for a nine inning, one run victory-- he is now 2-3/3.71/34 on the season.