BOSTON STRONG -
THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION
 2013 WORLD SERIES,
 GAME #5
Jon Lester takes charge again

October 28, 2013 ... Jon Lester outlasted and outpitched the Cardinals' Adam Wainwright in a compelling duel of elite pitchers in tonight's 3-1 victory in Game 5 of the World Series at Busch Stadium.  That gives Boston a 3-2 lead over St. Louis in this riveting Fall Classic, and sets up Fenway Park for a possible World Series clincher in Game 6.

David Ortiz had three more hits in Game 5, and he is hitting .733 (11-for-15) with two homers and six RBIs.  But it was actually David Ross who had the biggest hit, belting a ground-rule double into the corner in left with one out in the seventh, breaking a 1-1 tie.

With a slight offensive attack at his back, Lester went to work and put together a dominant performance. He went 7 2/3 innings, scattering four hits and a run, walking none and striking out seven.  In five starts this postseason, Lester is 4-1 with a 1.56 ERA, giving up two earned runs or fewer each time out. His only loss was 1-0 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series against the Tigers.  Pick your postseason Sox pitcher Lonborg, Tiant, Clemens, Hurst, Martinez, Schilling, Beckett, Lester's playoff performance is worthy of mention with any of them.

John Farrell deemed that Lester's night was finished at 91 pitches, as he thanked the lefty for a job well done and went to indomitable closer Koji Uehara for the final four outs. With the tying run at the plate when Uehara came on in the eighth, he struck out Matt Adams on three pitches.  If Uehara has seemed almost robotic in the way he mows down the opposition, he is still grinding it out pitch by pitch.  The save was his seventh of the postseason, tying the record shared by John Wetteland, Troy Percival, Robb Nen and Brad Lidge. If there is another save for Uehara this month, it would be the one that wins the World Series for Boston.

Through the first six innings Monday, it seemed neither ace was going to blink. The only difference was that Wainwright came into the seventh with 86 pitches while Lester was at only 69.  And perhaps that helped the Sox bats seize control in the top of the seventh. Top prospect Xander Bogaerts started the rally with a one-out single up the middle. Then came a critical at-bat, as the slumping Stephen Drew was able to work a walk. Perhaps Drew's flyout to deep right in his previous at-bat was just enough to make Wainwright be a little more careful.  Ross followed with his big double and the Red Sox had the lead.  Jacoby Ellsbury, who has had a quiet World Series, smacked an RBI single up the middle that scored Drew.  Ross was thrown out at the plate to end the inning, but Lester had a 3-1 lead.

The Red Sox came out with a quick burst of offense in the first, as Pedroia rifled a one-out double into the corner in left and Ortiz brought him home with a double down the line in right.  Aside from the pair of doubles, Wainwright was nasty in the early going. The first six outs he recorded were all on strikeouts.

Lester had his good stuff early as well, limiting the Cardinals to two singles over the first three innings.  In the fourth, Matt Holliday hit a towering solo blast onto the berm in center to tie the game. Carlos Beltran nearly made it back-to-back homers, but his shot to left was flagged down by Jonny Gomes in front of the wall in left-center. The inning ended on a bullet by Yadier Molina that Drew made a tremendous leaping catch on.

Lester then settled right back into his groove.  The one he's been in for the entire month. His four wins in this postseason tie his friend and former teammate Josh Beckett (2007) for a team record.  He was working on a string of 16 2/3 consecutive scoreless World Series innings when Matt Holliday homered on a 1-0 pitch in the fourth.  Meanwhile, no matter which team wins, Fenway Park will be where the World Series ends for the first time since 1975. The Red Sox are aiming for their third World Series title since 2004, while trying to prevent the Cards from winning their third since '06.  The last time the Sox won a World Series at home? That would be 1918.

David Ortiz is on a tear in the World Series. He went 3-for-4 with an RBI double.  Ortiz doubled home Dustin Pedroia in the first, singled in the fourth and singled again in the eighth. His lone out was a smash to center caught by Shane Robinson.  Ortiz is hitting .733 with two homers, two doubles and six RBIs in the series. The Cardinals have intentionally walked him just once, though they’ve pitched around him for four other walks. 

Ortiz is on pace for one of the best World Series hitting performances ever.   Billy Hatcher of the Reds hit .750 with an .800 on-base percentage in the Reds’ sweep of the Oakland Athletics in 1990, a performance that included seven straight hits. Both the average and on-base percentage are all-time highs for qualifying World Series players. Ortiz has an on-base percentage of .750 so far in this series.  It isn’t just this October. In three World Series, Ortiz is hitting .465, best-ever among players with at least 50 plate appearances.  Babe Ruth had the second-highest batting average, .625 in 1928, followed by Hideki Matsui’s .615 for the Yankees in 2009.

CLICK TO
VIEW SCORECARD