John Lester dismantles Seattle Mariners
The Boston Red Sox defeated the Seattle Mariners 5-1 on Monday to open up a three-game series at Safeco Field.
John Lester got the call for the Red Sox and pitched eight solid innings to improve his record to 17-8. Lester allowed just one run on three hits. He also struck out 12 and walked only three batters to give Boston its fourth win in their last seven games, keeping their faint play-off hopes alive. Lester is now 6-1 in his last seven starts and has struck out two or more for the fourth consecutive game.
"I was able to locate a fastball and get ahead," Lester said. "That's big for any pitcher, getting ahead and being able to do what you want to with it. You get a couple runs on the board and you can sit back a little bit and minimize damage. It makes things easier, takes pressure off you so you can go out there and pitch."
Boston got all the runs they needed by opening the scoring in the second inning. After a single by Adrian Beltre and a double by Jed Lowrie, Josh Reddick’s ground-out scored Beltre. Lowrie then scored to make it 2-0 after Daniel Nava’s double. Lars Anderson then followed with a double of his own to bring in Nava, making it a three-run game.
Ryan Kalish completed Boston’s scoring in the eighth inning with a two-run home run, bringing in Marco Scutaro who had walked to make it 5-1.
The Mariners scored their lone run in the seventh inning after Casey Kotchman’s RBI ground-out scored Franklin Gutierrez who had previously reached on a walk and advanced into scoring position after Jose Lopez single to set up the play. Later in the frame, Lester was able to get Adam Moore to groud-out with two runners on to kill the threat and end the inning.
Doug Fister took the loss for the Mariners dropping his record to 5-12. Fister gave up five runs on six hits in just 7 1/3 innings. However, Mariners manager Daren Brown felt his starter was not to blame for the loss.
"I thought Fister was good tonight," said Brown. "You take away the second inning, after that, he only gave up one hit going into the eighth. I thought he pitched well, just a couple of mistakes the one inning. Other than that I thought he was solid."
Lester finished his impressive start by striking out three batters in the eighth inning. Daniel Bard came on in the ninth to secure the win for the Red Sox.
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