Monarch Of The Mound: Jon Lester Shuts Out Royals in a Pitcher's Duel

Both the Red Sox and the Royals were prepared to have a tough night at the plate. What they got was a pitcher's duel that held both teams scoreless until the bottom of the eighth.

This night was all about the men on the mound.

Lefty Jon Lester has owned the Royals in his three (now four) starts against them. He came in with a 1.64 ERA against KC, and brought it down tonight after going 8 innings with four hits, two walks, and eight strike-outs.

He improved to 8-6 on the season and brought his ERA down to 3.87. And no one was more excited than Lester when Pedroia hit his RBI double in the 8th.

It is also interesting to note that three of the four hits given up by Lester were to lefty batter Mark Teahen.

Royals' starter Brian Bannister had his way with the Red Sox, as well. He went seven and two-thirds innings, allowing three hits, one earned run, four walks, and striking out seven.

Lester and Bannister dueled it out into the eighth, holding each other's teams scoreless* (see bottom of article for explanation, this has nothing to do with Barry Bond's home run record) until the 8th, when Dustin Pedroia ripped a two-out double off the Green Monster to put the Sox ahead 1-0. 

That would end up being the final score.

Red Sox close Jonathan Papelbon, who has been shakier this season than he's been in recent years, came on and pitched a perfect 9th to complete the pitching clinic.

Both Lester and Papelbon were locating pitches wherever they wanted to, and kept the Royals off-balance for most of the game.

The most impressive thing to come out of the night was Jon Lester's ability to tie up hitters. He was throwing breaking balls, cutters, fast-balls, curves—anything he wanted to.  And hitters were tied up, confused, and watching strikes go by all night.

In previous years, and even in previous starts, Lester has had to rely on his cutter and fastball more, so this is a great sign of growth.

It reminds me of what Varitek said after he pitched the no-hitter last year. That was not Jon Lester's peak. Far from it.

We get to watch him grow and develop and mature as a pitcher right before our very eyes. And unlike some teams *cough* Yankees *cough*, many of the Red Sox pitchers are home-grown—they didn't pay a gazillion dollars to take them from another team.

One final note (to explain the asterisk):

*The Red Sox should have been up 1-0 in the 5th, when Mark Kotsay distracted the infield in a run down, Jacoby Ellsbury headed home from third. He slid in safe, very safe, if you watch the replay, but was called out.