Several starts into his first season with the Red Sox, Lackey has established a pattern of battling through nights where his stuff is not top notch, keeping his team in games and exiting with the lead.
Thursday night’s 8-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Fenway Park was perhaps the best example of Lackey’s tendency to "compete," as manager Terry Francona likes to call it. He gave up four runs — three earned — in six innings, improving to 8-3 and winning his fourth straight decision overall.
"Kept us in it and won a game," Lackey said when asked for his overall assessment of the start, after which he replied to an inquiry into some of his substandard numbers. "I’m 8-3, man. I don’t know what else you guys want."
Haters will certainly look to the numbers and say that Lackey has been fortunate to receive plenty of run support and consistent quality relief from the bullpen. His 4.53 ERA is a run higher than any other AL hurler with as many as eight wins. Opponents are hitting .294 against him. He has wrestled with a un-Lackey-like poor strikeout-to-walk ratio.
But people like Francona, who simply want results, look at the bottom line. And on Thursday, it was there. Again.
"He just didn’t finish off some hitters, a lot of deep counts," Francona said. "Saying that, they never scored more than one an inning and he just has a way of managing the game and competing.
"I think he’s gonna get into a situation where he reels off a lot of zeros, and in the meantime, he just keeps competing, and successfully."
Lackey, who actually was hurt on Thursday by his own throwing error in the third and a bunt single in the fourth that ignited a two-run rally, figures the best is yet to come, too. Knowing his propensity for second-half dominance, he can easily shrug off some uneven line scores early in the year.
"For my career, I’ve always been better in the second half, so to be able to win some games when I haven’t really gone on a prolonged run is kinda nice," said Lackey, who has consistently been very good in the month of July, going 25-11 with a 3.42 ERA in the month.
The 31-year-old, when pressed again on the lower strikeout numbers (he had five against the Diamondbacks) said that he is pitching to contact more this year, confident in an infield filled with top-notch defenders. The results have been a bit mixed, Lackey admitted.
"It’s kinda been hit or miss," he said. "[On Thursday] I was in trouble."
He was, but never of a serious nature. And that has been the pattern for Lackey thus far. Bend, don’t break, and look toward a better second half. In the meantime, the wins keep coming.
