Jon Lester sparks as Boston Red Sox defeat Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 – Game 1
Boston Red Sox starter, Jon Lester had a notable day with the ball as he struck-out eight batters in his seven inning pitches and gave just one run in the Red Sox 3-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park, Boston on August 16.
Rays got off to a pretty decent start as they added one run on their individual score-card to take a 1-0 lead, at the top of their first inning. Evan Longoria was grounded out to third base but Desmond Jennings posted a single run to lift the potential of
the Rays. In second inning, the batters from both teams were shaky with the bat and did not provide even a single run.
Red Sox batters smashed three quick runs at the bottom of third inning to get a 3-1 lead. Jacoby Ellsbury struck a three-run homer (410 feet) towards right-field while Josh Reddick and Mike Aviles posted two collective runs to end the three-run campaign
for Red Sox. The remaining six innings were empty as the batters struggled and pitchers were dominating.
In sixth inning, Longoria singled towards left-field but B.J. Upton and Ben Zobrist both were struck-out while at second base, Sam Fuld grounded out without giving some runs to the Rays. Similarly, at the bottom of seventh inning, Red Sox were also sloppy
with their shots as at short-stop position, Carl Crawford grounded out and at second base Jarrod Saltalamacchia grounded out.
Lester permitted three hits, one walk and one earned run with an ERA of 3.22. He did not give any home-run on his 113 pitches. Lester said, “Going into it you know it's going to be a tight game. He's not going to make a lot of mistakes. Fortunately, when
he did make mistakes in that one inning we took advantage of it. That's what you have to do against a good pitcher.”
Rays’ manager, Joe Maddon said of the game, “They hit the home run. We did not and that's why they won the game.”
At the top of ninth inning, Rays missed scoring opportunities when at second base, Longoria popped out, Zobrist grounded out and Upton lined out without posting any run.
As a result, Red Sox led off with 1-0 in the three-game series, at Boston.
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