Lester's hot start winds up getting torched

After a rough outing against the Blue Jays, Jon Lester (6 1/3 IP, 1 run) was again on target yesterday against the Yankees. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

NEW YORK - Jon Lester simply wanted to come out and throw better.

He wanted to give a better acquittal of himself than he had Saturday in Toronto, when he didn't make it out of the third inning of an 11-0 drubbing. Lester was roughed up for seven runs on eight hits in 2 1/3 innings.

It was the shortest start of his career.

"Obviously, you don't want to go back out there and pitch two innings and give up seven runs," Lester said. "Like I said in Toronto, it's just one of those deals where we had to move forward, forget about it, and go get 'em in five days. I did that today, and found the strike zone and felt pretty good."

When he took the mound before yesterday's 3-2 loss at Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox lefthander was not only looking to make his pitches, he wanted to make them matter. For the most part, he succeeded, dueling Yankees starter Mike Mussina pitch for pitch.

Lester threw 119 pitches, Mussina 113. Lester had eight strikeouts, Mussina six. Lester hit two batters and Mussina plunked two. Lester went 6 2/3 innings, Mussina seven, coming up with a hard-hit comebacker by Jacoby Ellsbury that left Alex Cora stranded on second to get through the inning.

"I thought he was tremendous," manager Terry Francona said of his starter. "His fastball was explosive. He threw all his pitches. He was tremendous. It's a shame the way the game ended."

Lester's effort was spoiled by Boston's bullpen. Hideki Okajima relieved him with two outs and one aboard in the seventh and served up a colossal clout to Jason Giambi, whose pinch-hit home run tied the score, 2-2.

Okajima got the first two outs of the eighth and Justin Masterson (4-4) finished it off by striking out Alex Rodriguez.

But Masterson loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, and Jonathan Papelbon was summoned to face Giambi, who hit a single that prevented the Sox from sweeping the Yankees.

"I felt pretty good and felt like I had some pretty good stuff early on," Lester said. "I got into some jams and got out of some jams but, obviously, it's not the outcome that you'd want. But we had a good road trip and, hopefully, we can carry the momentum back home."

The Sox will need something to carry them home after Josh Beckett was scratched from his start tonight against the White Sox because of right elbow inflammation. Beckett will visit Dr. James Andrews.

"Obviously, it's tough on the team; he's one of our horses and a guy we count on for a lot of innings. But he's got to take care of his body," Lester said. "If his body is telling him, 'I can't pitch,' then he can't pitch. We're going to do our best to pick up his slack."

Yesterday, Lester might have gotten out of the seventh if not for Cody Ransom's stinging double down the left-field line.

Asked how he felt when he came off the mound, Lester said, "I felt all right. I didn't feel any better or worse than the start of the game."

After opening the inning by inducing Robinson Cano to pop to shortstop and striking out Hideki Matsui, Lester intended to get the job done against Ransom.

"It's my mind-set to keep making pitches until I get out of it," Lester said. "Ransom had a good at-bat there. He battled, laid off some good pitches, also fouled off some good pitches, and hits a double down the line.

"It was a good piece of hitting."

That spoiled some solid pitching from Lester.