Lester Finally Being Lester: Boston Red Sox Trounce Toronto Blue Jays

Prior to their series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia voiced his frustration with the lack of offense by a usually powerful lineup, saying “we’ve got to find a way to score runs…we need to start doing some things, offensively.”

Pedroia backed up his comments, and the rest of the lineup answered the call. If that wasn’t enough, the Red Sox actually received a good outing on the mound from Jon Lester.

Kevin Youkilis put Boston on the board in the top of the first inning with a solo-home-run off Toronto’s young starting pitcher Ricky Romero. When the Jays came to the plate in the bottom of the frame, I expected Lester to lose the one-run lead awarded to him by the first baseman.

On cue, he did. A 15-game winner a year ago, Lester has been notorious for losing leads this season. When he does, he usually opens the flood gates by giving up so many runs that a comeback by his offense is inconceivable.

The lefthander allowed a single to leadoff hitter Marco Scutaro, then, after striking out Aaron Hill, walked Alex Rios. This has been a reoccurring theme for Lester, as he has walked 24 batters this season, and is on pace to pass last year’s total of 66 in 33 starts.

Each free pass handed out by Lester this season, it seems, has either prolonged or started a big inning by the opposition. The Blue Jays, determined to continue his woes, pulled off a double-steal.

Lester had been in the middle of this jam far too often this season, but this time, he escaped with minimal damage. a sacrifice fly by Vernon Wells tied the score. Surprisingly, this was the only run Lester allowed.

Instead of serving up hit after hit, which I had become accustomed to, he tallied strikeouts galore. This is not his forte, as he usually relies on meekly hit groundballs and weakly hit fly-balls to succeed.

Yet, though an abnormality, it was extraordinary to watch him not only dominate, but do so by baffling the Blue Jays to the tune of a career-high twelve strikeouts.

Eight of his strikeouts came after Pedroia crushed his second home-run of the season, a three-run shot, down the left-field line. Five of the final six outs Lester recorded were via the strikeout, including all three in the fifth inning, and the final two in the sixth.

His fastball that usually sits in the 92-94 miles-per-hour range had more life, topping out at 97-miles-per-hour with good movement in an effective location as late in the outing as the 109th pitch thrown, which retired Adam Lind for his eleventh strikeout.

His outing was finished once a looping curveball, a pitch that complimented his blistering fastball nicely, evaded the bat of Scott Rolen.

The Red Sox offense made sure it would result in a win, the fourth of the season for the 25-year old. Manager Terry Francona took Pedroia’s demands to heart, moving the reigning American League Most Valuable Player into the leadoff spot. Jacoby Ellsbury, who usually anchors that position, was moved to eighth.

Usually, a demotion in the lineup is due of poor hitting, like the reality check handed out to the slugger who isn’t slugging, David “Big Papi” Ortiz, but in Ellsbury’s case, it’s to give the bottom of the order more stability.

The center-fieder has been on fire of late, batting .300 with a hit in 24 of his past 27 games, so he should continue his excellence despite the change in scenery.

Youkilis, Jason Bay, and Mike Lowell, manning their normal positions in the third, fourth, and fifth spots, continued to tote hot bats. Lowell stretched the margin to four with an rbi-double in the fifth inning, after Romero began the frame by walking Youkilis and Bay.

Boston’s offense took two next innings off, then put the exclamation point on a must-needed victory with three runs in the eighth. J.D. Drew, who moved from the seventh spot to the second, plated the first run off reliever Brian Wolfe with a sacrifice fly.

Youkilis followed with a rocket that was stung so crisply that it barely cleared the left-field fence. Wolfe, like many before him, tried to sneak a first-pitch fastball by Bay, which has only led to bad things. Bay leveled the offering deep into left for his 15th longball of the season.

Baseball is so much simpler when a team benefits from good pitching and good hitting in the same game. Hopefully, this will start a trend for the Red Sox.