Jon Lester shines as Boston Red Sox defeat Los Angeles Angels by 7-3
Boston Red Sox overcame the mounting pressure faced by their offence to win the Tuesday night encounter against Los Angeles Angels by 7-3.
Sox’s Jon Lester was once again characteristically brilliant with his unplayable fastballs to not only strengthen the defence but also in outmanoeuvring his Angels’ contender, Dan Haren, with skill. Lester pitched seven effective innings, barely allowing
the Angels’ hitters to go for a run.
"It's fun to have those battles every once in a while and see who's going to make the first mistake. I did early", Lester said. "We just tried to hang around the best we could and keep them within striking distance".
It is important to remember that the Red Sox have lately struggled to demonstrate the kind of offence expected of them, and a necessary component for victory.
It is this angle that does not go unnoticed by the Angels’ manager whose team was outplayed in offence:
"We need to get into our game, especially on the offensive side", Scioscia said. "We're seeing one at-bat after another mirroring each other with runners in scoring position, and it's putting a lot of pressure on our pitchers".
Dan Haren, who was clearly not impressive enough on May 3, 2011, acknowledged the superiority of his rival, Lester and the team he represents:
“It's not losing 15 out of 16 to, no disrespect, like the Mariners or the Pirates. It's the Boston Red Sox. They're a good ballclub", Haren said. "In order to do 15 out of 16 you've got to have a little luck on your side. A lot of things have to happened
because it's not that easy".
But the game at Boston did not start with the home team taking the lead. It was Mark Trumbo, who scored the first run for Los Angeles Angels, giving his team a 1-0 lead after the first scoreless inning for the Sox.
Trumbo homered to left-field on Lester’s fastball, and gave the Angels a lead that they maintained up until the sixth inning when Boston Sox not only reversed the lead but also went ahead. Sox’s Adrian Gonzalez and Jed Lowrie scored a single each to make
it 2-1 Sox.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia made it 3-1 for his team in the seventh inning, increasing the pressure on Angeles.
However, if that lead alone was not sufficient enough, the Red Sox went on run rampage in the eighth innings. Both Gonzalez and Ortiz hit their first respective homers of the season to take the lead to 7-1 Sox, which in a way announced their dominance in
the game.
Angels had the last opportunity to stage a comeback in the ninth inning when Jonathan Papelbon came pitching for Boston Sox.
However, the pitcher allowed only two singles, which made the score 3 for Angeles. That – nevertheless – was too little and too late to stop Boston Sox from an effective 7-3 victory.
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