Jon Lester helps Boston Red Sox defeat Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 to avoid sweep – MLB Update
The Boston Red sox romped to a 5-2 win in the third outing against the Major League’s current leaders Philadelphia Phillies, at the Citizens bank Park on Thursday, June 30 to avoid their series sweep.
The Red Sox starter Jon Lester stayed scoreless over his seven innings pitched and took five batters to notch his tenth win in this season. He allowed just two walks and two hits over 120 pitches out of which 75 were strikes.
"He was really good," said manager Terry Francona. "He never had the real quick inning, and they made him work pretty consistently every inning to 16, 19 pitches, so they ran his pitch count up a little bit."
Daniel Bar relieved him in the eighth inning and remained scoreless but Bobby Jenks could not keep the momentum going and gave away a two-run homer to Ryan Howard in the ninth inning that helps the Phillies avoid their shut-out. Closer Jonathan Papelbon
tossed just eight pitches and struck-out one batter over an innings to snatch his 15th save of the season.
Phillies’ starter Cole Hamels was in good shape, as he tossed four two-hit innings and struck-out two batters before he received a hit on his glove hand by Adrian Gonzalez that made him leave the field. As soon as he left, reliever David Herndon could not
maintain the pressure over the Red Sox batting squad and gave away a scoreless tie breaking single to Drew Sutton, then a 2-0 lead generating RBI single to Jacoby Ellsbury.
In the top of the sixth inning David gave up a homer to Jason Varitek, who also hammered a home-run in the top of the eighth inning off Drew Carpenter. Dustin Pedroia launched a one-run homer in the eighth inning to help his club cement their 5-0 win. However,
the Red Sox could not get their shut-out over the Major League’s leading team, as their reliever gave away a two-run homer in the ninth inning.
Phillies’ Drew Carpenter gave two runs over two innings while closer Scott Mathieson remained scoreless in the last inning.
"I guess flying after a win is always more fun," Francona said, "But you try not to react too much."
Boston put in a tremendous effort as they managed to contain the Phillies’ offence late in the game. The Phillies will be looking to improve their performance in their next match-up.
The Red Sox now will take on Houston Astros with Tim Wakefield as their starting pitcher in the first of the three-game series, starting from the July 1. It will be interesting to see how far the Red Sox can carry their winning momentum.
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