Jon Lester, Pitching Staff Responsible for Red Sox’ Recent Upswing

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May 25, 2010

Jon Lester, Pitching Staff Responsible for Red Sox' Recent Upswing At about 10 p.m. last Tuesday in New York, the rain was falling, the temperatures were low and the Red Sox were seemingly about to lose their third straight as staff leader Josh Beckett walked off the mound with a back strain.

It was misery heaped upon misery.

Roughly 24 hours later, Beckett was on the DL and the team’s starting rotation ranked 13th in the American League with an ERA over 5.00 when Clay Buchholz went to the mound to face the high-powered Minnesota Twins. Upon that misery was soon heaped mastery, as Buchholz kicked off an unexpected stretch of pitching dominance that has transformed the club’s season in a span of one week.

The stretch was still alive through Tuesday, with Jon Lester’s six innings of one-hit ball against the vaunted Tampa Bay Rays the latest indication that a rainy night in the Bronx was a distant memory.

Lester did walk a career high-tying five men, but he struck out nine and never allowed a runner to reach third base after the first inning. He improved to 5-0 with a 1.45 ERA over his last seven starts, and joined Buchholz in going 2-0 during the club’s current run of seven wins in eight games.

To Lester — who was extremely hard on himself when he struggled to start the season — being able to give the team a good start has become a matter of pride for him and his colleagues.

"The starters weren’t going deep into ballgames," he said of the rotation’s earlier struggles. "We were using our bullpen a lot. We took it kind of personal."

Due to the walks, including two issued right out of the gate, Lester’s pitch count (111) did not allow him to work into the seventh, forcing his earliest exit since April 23. However, considering the opponent and the fact that he went the distance in his previous start, a slightly abbreviated outing could be forgiven.

"The good news is he had a lot of ways to get people out," manager Terry Francona said. "He doesn’t give in, battles, made some huge pitches. They drove his pitch count up a bit, but he pitched great."

Including Lester’s outing, Boston's starters are 6-1 with a 1.44 ERA over the seven-start splurge. Opponents have hit just .169 in the span, and the average start has lasted into the eighth inning.

What makes this run of quality starts even more remarkable is that it has taken place without Beckett and with Lackey — the other big-money man in the rotation — struggling for the first time in Boston.

Lackey’s five inning, four-run effort in a loss to Philadelphia on Friday stands as the team’s lone poor start in the past week. Beckett isn’t due back until late next week.

Including part-time reliever Tim Wakefield and the once-struggling Daisuke Matsuzaka — who combined to throw 16 scoreless innings in Philadelphia over the weekend — the remaining four starters have taken it upon themselves to make that a non-issue.

"Obviously, on any team, the starters are the backbone of the team, and if they’re not going deep into games, then you’re using that bullpen a lot and it’s putting pressure on them," Lester said. "So if we’re able to go deep into games like we have been, good things will happen."

They already have. When Beckett walked off the wet Yankee Stadium mound, the Sox were 8 1/2 games back in the American League East and 6 1/2 behind the Yankees. After Lester and three rested relievers finished off the Rays, the deficits were 6 1/2 and 1 1/2, respectively.

Boston has yet to have one run through the rotation when everything has clicked. After four consecutive gems and six in the last seven games, Lackey gets a chance to join the party against the Rays on Wednesday — exactly one week after the Sox were mired in misery.

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