He's Baaaaaaack by Jared Carrabis
Lester flirts with perfection, tosses complete game gem


Just when you think he can't impress you even more than he already has, he widens your eyes and drops your jaws even more than before.

On Saturday night, Jon Lester took the mound after coming off a start where he set a new career high in strikeouts with twelve against the Toronto Blue Jays. His previous career high had been ten, and after an inconsistent start to the 2009 season, Lester dominated his way back into the direction of consistency.

How do you go out and prove that you're back on the right track after setting a new career high in strikeouts? Simple: pitch a complete game, two-hitter, with eleven strikeouts. Lester dazzled the Texas rangers for nine frames, while taking a perfect game into the seventh inning. The left-hander retired the first 19 batters out of the shoot before giving up a one out double to Michael Young in the seventh. In fact, Young accounted for both of the hits that Lester allowed on Saturday.

"That was just lights-out," Michael Young said of Lester's masterpiece. "That was one of the best games I've seen in my career by a pitcher, topping at 98 [MPH], pounding the strike zone. [He] used all his pitches, back-doored his cutter, threw his cutter in, curveball, changeup. You have to give him credit. He flat out threw a good game."

Lester needed just 107 pitches to spin his third career complete game, and although it wasn't a shutout, it was an impressive masterpiece nonetheless. The bullpen may have gotten the night off, but the Red Sox offense was hard at work all night. Boston struck for a run in the second inning when instant replay revealed that Mike Lowell's wall ball was in fact his ninth home run of the season.

In the bottom of the fifth, Dustin Pedroia drove in a run, and later in the inning, Jason Bay drove in a pair of runs to up his AL leading RBI total to 55. The more runs that the Red Sox provided their starter, Jon Lester, the more dominant he became. The bottom of the sixth was kick-started with a solo shot down the right field line by David Ortiz, who connected for his second home run of the season.

With one out and two men on, Pedroia knocked in another run with a base hit to increase Boston's lead. Later in the inning, Kevin Youkilis poked a base hit into left to drive in Rocco Baldelli and Pedroia. Eight runs were plenty for Lester, who went on to baffle the Rangers all night long.

"It was fun to watch," pitching coach John Farrell said. "He was obviously powerful, [and had] good command of all his stuff. And I think the one thing over the last few games that's really started to emerge is the use of his changeup as well as his four-seam fastball to arm side of the plate. I think that not only gives him a chance to spread the plate's width but to really begin to work back and forth, disrupting hitters' timing."

Put it this way; when Jon Lester threw a no-hitter last season, it was against the Kansas City Royals. On Saturday night, he was facing one of the most powerful offenses in all of baseball. If a mediocre or worse team ran into Lester on Saturday night, he just may have had himself a perfect game. Hell, the guy may have had a perfect game against one of the top offenses if Michael Young decided to take a night off.

Things you'll need to know to impress your friends:

Jon Lester's near perfect start was the second time in the past week that a Red Sox starter took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Josh Beckett held the Tigers hitless before giving up a two-out hit in the seventh inning to end his no-hit bid.

After setting a new career high in K's in his start previous to Saturday night's gem, Lester again set a new career high, but in a different category. During Lester's dominant performance in which the left-hander struck out 10 of the first 18 batters he faced, opposing batters swung and missed an impressive 21 times; a new career high. It was a career high for Lester and it was the second most by any pitcher in baseball this season.

"His cutter was the key," said Rangers manager Ron Washington. "He was back-dooring it, and I don't know if the gun was juiced, but he was popping 94, 95, 96 out there. The guy had good stuff, and he was in the strike zone with it. He made us swing the bat and we never could center the ball. You just have to tip your hat to him." Fun fact: Lester's velocity averaged 90.3 MPH on the night. That's factoring in changeups, sliders and curveballs, which means he was throwing straight gas when he was pumping fastballs.

In Lester's last two starts, the lefty has logged 15 innings pitched, while giving up just two earned runs and has struck out 23 batters to move into third place in the American League in K's with 85.

-Jared Carrabis

Final Score: Texas 1, Red Sox 8

Published on June 07, 2009

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