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JON LESTER |
Jon Lester aces the Royals
for a Sox series sweep
July 20, 2014 ...
Jon Lester fired eight scoreless innings in a 6-0 win over the Royals
at Fenway Park to complete a three-game sweep. Lester showed no signs
of an All-Star Game hangover, allowing just four hits, while walking
two and fanning eight. The lefty has given up one earned run or fewer
in six of his last seven starts. Relievers
Junichi Tazawa
and Edward
Mujica combined for a scoreless ninth.
Lester has
posted career bests this season in ERA, WHIP and K/BB ratio. Other stats tell
the same tale. His walk rate has never been lower, his strikeout rate is near a
career high and FIP (fielding independent pitching) at 2.59 is a career best.
Lester has been as good as he's looked to the eye in a contract year.
Boston
scored six runs on nine hits, with three going for extra bases. Four players had
multi-hit games, including
Shane Victorino, who played
in his second consecutive contest after spending nearly two months on the shelf.
Once Royals starter
Yordano Ventura exited after 4 1/3 innings, though, the Red Sox
were held hitless. Encouraging to some degree was that Boston's offensive
uprising came with its three through five hitters,
David Ortiz,
Dustin Pedroia
and Mike Carp,
being held hitless.
The Red Sox
gears were turning right from the start against the hard-throwing Ventura. In
the first, Pedroia's groundout brought home
Brock Holt, who had singled
and moved to third on
Daniel Nava's single.
In the
third, Nava ripped a line drive down the right-field line that bounced over the
short fence for a double, scoring Ross and
Jackie Bradley Jr. Ross
then launched his homer over the Green Monster in the fourth. After Bradley and
Holt singled, Nava's sacrifice fly brought Bradley home to give Boston a 6-0
lead. Lester did the rest. Nava has been optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket twice
this season, but he's made sure that won't happen again soon with his recent
play. In July, the switch-hitter has hit .382 with eight RBIs in 34 at-bats. He
is batting .337 since being recalled on June 2.
Kansas
City's offense has struggled and running into Lester on Sunday didn't help. The
Royals scored just five runs in the three-game set, while scoring seven in three
contests prior to the All-Star break. Ventura exited with the bases loaded and
one out in the fifth.
Francisley Bueno worked the
Royals out of that jam, but Ventura's line didn't look any better because of it.
He allowed six runs, nine hits and four walks with no strikeouts over 4 1/3
innings. |
