Jon Lester created an unfamiliar backdrop for last night's start with his prior performance, both during his outing and after it. Lester suffered another loss, then stood in front of his locker in Seattle and berated himself.
Lester has done a lot of things in his young career, but he has never endured such a string of lousy outings. His bleak numbers - a 2-4 record and a 6.51 ERA - disgusted him, and he vowed diligence in his work and change in his results.
"I just wanted to make sure that everybody knew that I'm not throwing in the towel," Lester said.
Lester promised he would be different, and last night he delivered. He lasted 6 1/3 innings, his third-longest start of the season, and allowed only one run. His best performances probably still await - Lester allowed eight hits and two walks, and his night was defined more by grit than excellence. But he viewed the start as a spark for his return as an ace of the Red Sox' staff.
"It's a long season," he said. "You're going to have bumps in the road, and sometimes those bumps are pretty deep, and you've got to dig yourself out of them. Tonight was definitely a first step toward getting out of that hole."
Lester had allowed his subpar starts to affect his pitches. In previous outings, Lester tried to make perfect pitches, right on the black border of the plate. He saw his record worsen and his ERA balloon and he couldn't relax.
"The results were eating at him," manager Terry Francona said.
Lester relaxed himself and his standards last night. He aimed for halves of the plate, not impossibly small targets.
"You hit a little bit of a rough patch, you think you can't get anybody out," Lester said. "You need to get back to the basics."
In Seattle, Lester vowed no pitcher in the league would work harder than him the remainder of the season, but he didn't let the words alter his routine. He followed his usual schedule. He got in his workouts, threw his bullpen session, and tried to soak in advice from pitching coach John Farrell and catcher Jason Varitek. Normal.
"I didn't sit in the clubhouse and just beat myself up and feel sorry for myself," Lester said. "We've got 25 other guys on the team that don't need to see me sitting, sulking in my locker."
Lester needed his focus in the first inning. Marco Scutaro, the first batter of the game, hammered a single to left. Vernon Wells drilled another hard single with two outs. Lester's issues this season have come from moments like these, a few base runners turning into a high number on the scoreboard. In Seattle, he allowed four runs in the pivotal sixth inning.
"You've got to figure out a way to get out of it," Lester said. "The last jam I was in, I didn't."
Adam Lind came to the plate with two on in the first. Lester fell behind in the count, but he didn't panic. Lind eventually hit a soft liner toward short, where Julio Lugo made an easy catch. Lester put a man on second base in each of the first four innings, and allowed a base runner for the first five. He didn't allow any runs.
"If he made a pitch and it wasn't right or it wasn't effective, he came right back and made a better pitch," Francona said. "He was trying so hard to get the results before. Just go pitch to pitch, execute the game plan, do your work week, and then trust your stuff. He did a really good job with that."
As the game progressed, Lester showed flashes of the dominance he became accustomed to late last season. Home plate umpire Marvin Hudson was giving the outside strike, and Lester took advantage. He struck out four, but his cutter and mid-90s fastballs led to several weak outs, and a far more generous self-evaluation.
"I made some good strides tonight," Lester said. "We can take a lot from this start and build off of it and hopefully carry it over."
