Lester Nearly Perfect in Win Over Rangers

By KC Downey in Featured, Red Sox, Top Story ⋅ June 7, 2009 at 3:07am ⋅ Post a comment

It got to the point where you knew you were watching something special. As soon as you get into the seventh inning with a perfect game still intact, you start to think if you may see something highly unusual on the mound. A year after throwing a no-hitter, Jon Lester flirted with a perfect game in his complete-game, two-hitter against the Rangers in an 8-1 Sox win.

“It’s hard not to think about it when you’ve got the Green Monster out there. It’s in your face the whole time,” Lester said of the box score on the Monster. “I was real happy it was a well-struck ball. It wasn’t an infield hit or anything like that.”

Normally, this would be huge news, but David Ortiz had a big night offensively for the Sox, going 2-3 with a walk and his second HR of the season. He looked like he was concentrating more at the plate and seeing the ball all the way. His 2-3 effort pushed his batting average back to .196 as he hopes to pass the Mendoza line in the coming days. It was his first multi-hit game since May 20 (back when he hit his first HR).

Sox Stud of the Game

Jon Lester, SP: Lester was maginificent on the mound, tossing 6.1 perfect innings before settling for a complete game. He finished with one run allowed on two hits and two walks in his nine innings. He also struck out 11 batters, giving him 23 K’s in his last two starts (2-0).

Sox Dud of the Game

Jacoby Ellsbury, CF: With Rocco Baldelli in the lineup and playing RF, J.D. Drew was given the night up, Jacoby Ellsbury moved up to Drew’s No. 2 spot and went 0-4 with a walk and a run scored. He and Nick Green were the only two Sox players without a hit.

Game Notes

W: Jon Lester (5-5)
L: Derek Holland (1-3)

The Rangers had two hits, and Michael Young had both of them in a 2-4 effort, including the double that ended the perfect game bid in the seventh. Bastard.
Ortiz (2-3) and Dustin Pedroia (2-5) were the only players with multiple-hit games for the Red Sox.
Mike Lowell finished 1-3 with his ninth HR of the season.

About KC Downey

KC is the "head coach" of the Sports of Boston, LLC blog network. Follow him on Twitter: @kc_downey

Tags: David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Michael Young, Mike Lowell, Red Sox, Texas Rangers

Discussion

4 comments for “Lester Nearly Perfect in Win Over Rangers”

Lester Nearly Perfect in Win Over Rangers: It got to the point where you knew you were watching something specia.. http://tinyurl.com/rcgnmo

Posted by Sports of Boston | June 7, 2009, 4:02 am
6 and 1/3 perfect innings is an outstanding performance and the complete game shut out is enough to keep me satisfied. It would have been great to witness a no-hitter, but I’m confident that Lester can get one later in the season if he keeps pitching the way he has in his last two starts.

Posted by Josh G | June 7, 2009, 1:10 pm
It’s great to see Jon Lester play so well. These last two starts have proved to me that he’s probably back to form…which is scary for the opposition.

Posted by KC | June 8, 2009, 8:46 pm
[...] Lester (SP), Boston Red Sox: This is a hometown bias, but I don’t care. Lester was nearly perfect in his one outing by going the distance and striking out 11 batters to earn his first complete game [...]

Posted by Fantasy Baseball Wrap-Up: Week 9 (6-1 - 6-7) | Sports of Boston | June 9, 2009, 5:52 am