Jon Lester Injury: Updates on Red Sox Pitcher's Leg

The Boston Red Sox suffered a big blow on Thursday night when Jon Lester exited the game against the Toronto Blue Jays in the eighth inning.

UPDATE: Thursday, June 27, at 10:03 p.m. ET by Tom Kinslow

Nick Cafardo has good news for Red Sox fans, who had to be worried about Jon Lester's status with Clay Buchholz already dealing with an injury.

Manager John Farrell confirmed the good news to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com.

Lester also talked to the media about the injury and what he was experiencing when he left the game, via NESN's Jenny Dell.

---End of update---

Lester threw a 2-0 pitch to Emilio Bonifacio and then appeared to be in pain, according to Sean McAdam of Comcast SportsNet New England:

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports that Lester limped back to the dugout accompanied by Boston’s trainer:

Rob Bradford of WEEI reports that Lester left with an apparent leg injury and “walked to the dugout without any semblance of discomfort.”

As Bradford notes, Lester was cruising through the early innings against the surging Blue Jays, not allowing his first hit until the fifth inning. Lester’s final line shows seven-plus innings of work while allowing four runs on five hits. The left-hander walked three batters and struck out five.

As Maureen Mullen of Comcast SportsNet New England notes, Lester could get the victory, but it still wasn’t one of his better starts in 2013:

Through 16 starts this season before Thursday, Lester was 7-4 with a 4.57 ERA in 100.1 innings of work. He started the year incredibly hot, winning six games in his first nine starts. Over that stretch, he posted a 2.72 ERA, and opponents only hit .204 off him. In his next seven starts, though, Lester was 1-4 with a 7.30 ERA in 40.2 innings.

Boston desperately needs Lester in the starting rotation in order to keep the team’s playoff hopes alive. Injuries are the one thing that can derail the Red Sox heading into the second half of the season. With Clay Buchholz also battling injuries, the Red Sox rotation is starting to crumble.