THE ROGERS CENTRE

BOSTON STRONG -
THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION
John Lackey loses in his first
start since 2011

April 6, 2013 ... It was double-loss Saturday for the Red Sox at Rogers Centre.  The offense mustered just two hits in a 5-0 defeat to the Blue Jays, but the bigger loss was the injury to right-hander John Lackey in his first start back from Tommy John surgery. 

His arm dangling, a stunned Lackey walked off the mound with two outs in the bottom of the fifth with a right biceps strain. The severity of the injury was not immediately known, and Lackey will undergo an MRI in Boston on Sunday.  It was a cruel twist of fate for Lackey, who had spent 18 months on the rehab trail from the surgery he underwent after the 2011 season.  After an incident-free Spring Training, Lackey got off to a good start on Saturday, striking out eight over 4 1/3 innings.  On a 2-2 pitch to Jose Reyes, Lackey immediately started shaking his arm and muttering in pain. He experienced slight discomfort on the previous pitch, flexing his arm a bit.  The way Lackey pitched early on, it's hard to believe things would transpire the way they did. The righty had six strikeouts through the first three innings.

The Jays finally did something against him in the fourth when J.P. Arencibia drilled a two-run homer, making it a 2-0 game.  A two-run deficit seemed bigger to the Red Sox on a day they did nothing offensively against Jays lefty J.A. Happ and a collection of Toronto relievers.  Jacoby Ellsbury doubled to lead off the game. Aside from that, the Boston bats were handcuffed the entire afternoon and didn't generate their next hit until Dustin Pedroia had an infield single with two outs in the ninth.

Alfredo Aceves, who came on for Lackey, gave up a three-run homer to Colby Rasmus in the bottom of the sixth.  It could be Aceves who pitches in Lackey's next scheduled turn in the rotation, but the Red Sox aren't ready to make any decisions like that just yet. The Sox are 13 of 58 (.224) with runners in scoring position and have left 47 runners on base in five games.