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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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BOSTON STRONG - September 3, 2013 ... On the night Max Scherzer had a chance to join Roger Clemens as the only pitchers in Major League history to go 20-1, the Major League leader in run support lost a duel to Jon Lester. Lester has made one wild turnaround. With the calendar flipped to September and the postseason lurking around the corner, Lester submitted one of his most impressive performances of the season. Lester threw seven innings of one-run ball against the streaking Tigers, setting a season high with nine strikeouts, and the Red Sox squeezed a pair of runs out of Scherzer to serve him just his second loss of the season in a 2-1 win. Just more than a month after his ERA was 4.52, Lester has now gone six straight games in which he's allowed three earned runs or fewer; a streak he's only beaten once, a nine-game stretch of brilliance in 2009. Over the last six games, the 29-year-old lefty has gone from a tired former ace to the team's No. 1 starter. He's posted a 1.71 ERA and hasn't allowed a home run. But the Tigers didn't make it easy on him. He only worked three one-two-three innings, allowed eight hits, including a hard-driven double from former Red Sox shortstop Jose Iglesias that drove in the Tigers' only run, and stranded seven runners. But his curveball and cutter were dancing with such grace that the Tigers' mashing pair of Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder each struck out swinging on balls that appeared to be out of the strike zone. Scherzer was spinning his magic equally, if not more effectively, than Lester. The Tigers' ace entered the game 19-1 and got through the first inning with three straight swinging strikeouts. He had Shane Victorino so off balance that Victorino decided to switch over and hit from the left side in his fourth at-bat. But that didn't work either, and Victorino finished 0-for-4. Scherzer allowed just five hits; his only mistake was that three came in the same inning. Jonny Gomes started the rally with a one-out single in the fifth. Stephen Drew then roped a laser to right-center, but the ball bounced over the outfield wall and into the stands for a ground-rule double, forcing Gomes to head back to third base. From snake-bitten to stinging with poison, Will Middlebrooks quickly erased the stroke of bad luck. After David Ross struck out swinging, Middlebrooks, whose error on a ground ball forced Lester into some trouble the previous inning, smacked a single up the middle to score two. That was all the Red Sox would need to beat the Tigers for just the second time in six tries this season. Farrell was crafty with his bullpen, using Brandon Workman, Craig Breslow and Junichi Tazawa for one out each in the eighth inning before Koji Uehara extended his scoreless-innings streak to 25 in picking up his 17th save and retired the last 21 batters to face him. He has been perfect in his last six save situations, matching a team record set by Jeff Russell in 1993. His stretch of 22 consecutive scoreless outings is the second-longest in team history. The Sox have won eight of their last 10 games. The bullpen has allowed two runs on nine hits in 20 2/3 innings on this homestand. Jacoby Ellsbury has a bone bruise and swelling in his left hand, a condition that caused him to leave Sunday's game. He played Monday but took himself out of the lineup for today. Ellsbury has been icing his left hand after games for several weeks. The issue worsened over the weekend. Jarrod Saltalamacchia has a sore lower back and is expected to miss two or three days to get rest and treatment. Saltalamacchia is hitless in his last 14 at-bats, partially as a result of the back issue. Farrell said the catcher's throwing has been affected, too. Xander Bogaerts was named USA Today's minor league player of the year. |
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