Lester K’s Career-Best 12 Against Toronto

Jon Lester struck out a career-high twelve batters in Sunday’s 8-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

“He was awesome,” said teammate Dustin Pedroia of Lester. “I hope he builds on that and keeps it going. That’s some of the best stuff in baseball that he threw out there today.”

Lester gave Sox fans a taste of his old (ironic since he’s only 25) self after struggling for much of the spring. His ERA currently sits at a lofty 5.65 and he only has four wins in eleven starts, but last year went 16-6 with a 3.21 ERA after a similar rough start so many are seeing this performance as a prelude to the rest of the season.

“He had good stuff today,” Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. “He pitched a good ballgame. He could probably beat just about anybody with the stuff he had today. He’s that type of pitcher. He can dominate at times. Today was his day.”

The only fault came in that Lester only lasted a disappointing 6 innings (Lester has struggled with getting late in games over his career). Still, Lester gave up one only one earned run on three hits against a pretty potent offensive lineup.

Lester told the press, “I had a pretty good feel for my curveball today and threw a lot of change-ups. That’s big with this team. You’ve just got to keep a good mix and you can’t let them look for one area or sit on a fastball. When I did get behind, I was able to have enough soft stuff in the mix where they couldn’t just gear up for a fastball.”
Red Sox batters backed up Lester’s performance by hitting four homers (Youkilis -2, Pedroia -1, Bay -1). Two weeks of limp bats combined with losing the first two to Toronto, the Sox needed a win and Lester delivered the foundation upon which it could happen.

Hopefully the game was a sign of things to come.