The Red Sox sent out a distress signal. Jon Lester answered that call and saved the day.
With their backs to the wall, the Red Sox and Lester went out tonight and pounded the Yankees and AJ Burnett to a nice 9-3 victory. Lester went 7 innings and allowed just two runs, four hits, two walks and the ace lefty struck out seven.
The offense came from a variety of sources including No. 8 hitter Jeremy Hermida who had himself a day. Hermida was responsible for three RBIs, including a two-run home run off Burnett in the 5th inning. Adrian Beltre also had a good night, going 2 for 4 with two RBIs. J.D. Drew, Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz (!) also had RBIs in the win.
But let's talk about Lester. He faced one of the best offenses in baseball and made them look pretty bad. Lester did give up a pair of homers to Nick Swisher and Alex Rodriguez, but those were just two bad pitches; the only two bad pitches he threw all game. The Sox needed their ace to show up and he did in impressive fashion.
Manny Delcarmen worked the 8th and struggled. He gave up three hits and a run, but it didn't really matter at this point with the Sox's big lead. Tim Wakefield worked the 9th and looked really good, working one strikeout and keeping all his knucklers in the zone.
It would have been nice to win this series, but after the first two games, this was a nice way to go out. Look at it this way: if the Sox won game one like this, and lost the next two like they did, we'd be sitting here all depressed. Instead, we have a little hope. It's a small glimmer of hope, but at least we have something to hang on to, right?
Toronto comes to town for a 7 p.m. start Monday.