« Clemens' MRI reveals disrupted scar tissue
Main
Lineups »
June 4, 2007
BY RICH RADFORD
Special to the Journal
NORFOLK, Va. – At this rate, Jon Lester’s return to the major leagues should be right around the corner.
Lester, the 23-year-old lefthander who had his 2006 rookie season with the Boston Red Sox cut short by cancer, pitched a complete seven-inning game Monday in the first game of a doubleheader between the Pawtucket Red Sox and Norfolk Tides Monday at Harbor Park.
Lester’s one mistake of the day came when he left a fastball up and in the middle of the strike zone on the first pitch of the sixth inning. Luis Montanez turned the mistake into a home run for Norfolk’s only run as the PawSox won 5-1.
Other than that one pitch, Lester was as sharp as the sun was bright, scattering four hits, walking one and striking out.
He ended up throwing 87 pitches – 54 for strikes – and said there was still some gas in the tank at game’s end. Not bad for someone diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma 10 months ago.
''They had me down to throw 90 to 95 pitches or to go six innings,'' Lester said. ''Right now, all I’m trying to do is build up my pitch count. I’m feeling really good.''
He also seems to have a handle on the situation: Boston is rolling and doesn’t need him at the present. But when they do . . .
''I’m ready. The last thing I needed to start doing was getting command of my off-speed pitches and get to where I was comfortable and repetitive with them,'' said Lester, who is 1-1 with a 1.26 earned run average with Pawtucket. ''I’ve been that way the last two starts. They’ll give me the call whenever they are ready to give me the call.''
By the fourth inning, Lester had all the run support he would need.
The PawSox scored in the second when Ed Rogers laid down a suicide squeeze bunt to plate Michael Tucker, who had doubled earlier in the inning.
In the fourth, consecutive hits by Bobby Scales, Rogers and George Kottaras were followed by an error by Tides first baseman Jon Knott, who misplayed a chopped grounder by Alex Prieto into an error.
David Murphy hit a monster home run in the top of the seventh and a triple by Scales drove in Brandon Moss, who had walked, to finish Pawtucket’s scoring.
In the second game, the PawSox got back-to-back homers by Michael Tucker and Chad Spann in the second inning. Pawtucket’s patchwork bullpen handled the rest as the PawSox ran four pitchers to the mound and won 2-1.
The Tides eventually scored in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Tike Redman that plated Adam Stern. But the tying run was stranded at third when Travis Hughes won an 11-pitch duel with Norfolk’s Brandon Fahey, finally coaxing Fahey into a ground out back to the mound for the final out.
With the doubleheader sweep, the PawSox (23-31) vacated last place in the entire International League, leaving that to the Tides (23-35).
Posted by Art Martone 
at 5:08 PM | Permalink
