Lester has too much on the ball
Powerful stuff left Lester weak
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For the first time in his career, Red Sox starter Jon Lester threw a pitch that was recorded at 97 miles per hour. But Lester actually thought he was too strong against the Orioles last night.
The lefthander, who picked up the lopsided 14-2 victory at Fenway Park, lasted five innings. He gave up one run and six hits, walked four and struck out five. He received a great deal of offensive support as well as defensive help but wasn't overly pleased by his performance.
"Coming into this year, I think the highest I ever did was 96," said Lester, who improved to 13-5. "That was a couple of years ago. It was one of those nights, I felt real strong, almost too strong.
"I was getting out too early, trying to almost throw the ball past guys every time instead of just almost going half-speed and just relying on my stuff and throwing strikes. It was unfortunate because I had good stuff.
"To only go five and have some unneeded walks there and some long innings was tough."
Lester retired the Orioles in order in the first inning. In the second, he gave up two hits, and in the third, he gave up one. The run he allowed came in the fourth. Aubrey Huff singled and Ramon Hernandez hit a ground-rule double to right, moving Huff to third. Kevin Millar's sacrifice fly scored Huff. Oscar Salazar drew a walk, but Lester struck out Lou Montanez and Juan Castro to end the inning.
In the fifth, Lester got two outs before Nick Markakis doubled through the hole at shortstop. Huff then walked - the fourth walk for Lester, his highest total since April 29 against Toronto - but Hernandez lined out to end the inning, and that was it for Lester.
He improved his career record against the Orioles to 6-0 with a 2.81 earned run average.
"I feel good, which is fortunate," said Lester. "It's a long season with a lot of innings, and right now I feel pretty good and hopefully can just keep riding that wave."
Manager Terry Francona noticed that Lester labored against righthanders.
"His location tonight was really not what it's been," said Francona. "His ball was arm side, up and away to a lot of righthanders. You know, he's been so good down, and tonight there were balls he left up, especially with righthanders."
The red-hot Dustin Pedroia had five RBIs, which gave Lester all the support he needed and then some.
"He has been unreal," said Lester. "He's swinging the heck out of the bat right now. It seems like every time you turn around, he's up to bat with guys on base and comes up clutch every time. He's done a great job for us defensively, offensively, leadership. Whatever [Francona] or the team asks of him, he does a good job of doing."
As for himself, Lester said he had a talk with pitching coach John Farrell after his outing.
"It's almost like I need to go half-speed," Lester said, "and not put as much effort into each throw and each pitch and just stay within myself a little more and realize I do feel strong, I do have pretty good stuff tonight, and just learn how to harness that and execute pitches instead of just going up there throwing and focus on executing that pitch."
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com
