Lester's return a rousing success as Sox smoke Tribe

Sox 6, Cleveland 2
WP: Lester (1-0)
LP: Westbrook (1-6)
SV: Delcarmen (1)
HRs: CLE-Sizemore (18)

SUMMARY
The storybook return of Sox hurler Jon Lester got a Disney-like ending when the 23-year-old lefty pitched six solid innings and got the win in his first start in the majors since being diagnosed with cancer last August.

Welcome back, Jon.

HERO Lester 6IP, 5H, 2ER, 2BB, 6K, HR, W
The performance, though far from perfect, was positive. The stats, though stellar, are insignificant. The decision, a well-earned win, icing on the cake.

The mere fact that a young kid who wasn't even sure if he'd live, never mind pitch again, has made it all the way back to the major leagues after going through everything Jon Lester has gone through in the last 11 months makes him a living example of the word 'hero.'

RECAP
Could it have gone any better than this tonight?

Not only did Jon Lester make it all the way back to the majors after a yearlong battle with the Big 'C', but he pitched effectively for six innings and his teammates got him all the run support he would need in the very first inning.

Knowing how much Lester has gone through to make it back and not wanting to put the kid through any more unnecessary duress, the blazing Boston batters took the field tonight determined to do everything in their power to help their courageous teammate have as easy an outing as possible.

Which meant as little stress as possible. And for a baseball pitcher there is no bigger stress reliever than having your club hang up a four-spot in the first inning.

Coco, who continued his white-hot streak with his second 4-hit game of the season, started the slaughter off against troubled Indians starter Jake Westbrook (6IP, 10H, 5ER, 4BB, K) with an opposite field single to left. Dustin Pedroia followed with a single to right, and then Youk worked a walk to load the bases with nobody out for Manny.

The former Tribe slugger received a mix reaction from the (mixed) crowd, then four pitches later Ramirez nonchalantly ripped a double down the third base line that scored Crisp and Pedroia, and the Sox had a 2-0 lead before anyone even had a chance to clear the foam off their beers.

J.D. Drew kept the ball rolling with a single right past Westbrook's glove to plate Youk with run #3, and only the run-scoring double play grounder by Lowell kept the score from being worse than 4-0 after one.

With his parents as well as a large contingent of RSN cheering him on in the stands, Jon Lester took the mound at Jacobs Field tonight for the bottom of the first inning for his first pitch in 11 months; surely he was surely, but you have to believe he was a little bit more relaxed with a nice four-run cushion to work with.

The layoff didn't appear to effect the lefty at all as his first pitch to Grady Sizemore was a strike, and he went on to retire the side on 15 pitches despite allowing a single to Casey Blake with two outs.

Not content to rest on their laurels, Boston went right back at Jake in the second inning, and once again the man with the flaming stick was the catalyst of the rally.

After Lugo grounded out to open the frame, Coco, who has now hit safely in seven straight games and nine of the last 10, notched his second hit of the night on the first pitch from Westbrook, a slicing opposite-field smash that bounced off the base of the wall in left for an easy two-bagger for the speedster.

Pedroia's groundout to the left side couldn't advance Crisp, but three pitches later Youk lined a single to right that scored the Coco from second without a throw, and Boston's lead was now 5-0 just 12 batters into the game.

Lester opened the second inning by hitting Ryan Garko with a pitch but followed that faux pas by inducing Jhonny Peralta to ground into a double play, but the Sox missed a golden chance to add to the lead when Mike Lowell was caught stealing with one out in the third, thwarting what could have been a bases loaded situation.

The missed opp would come back to haunt them in the bottom of the inning when Lester made his biggest mistake of the night: an 0-2 pitch to Sizemore that the talented center fielder crushed into the right field seats for a momentum-breaking two-run homer.

After that reality check and with Lester's durability in question, the true mettle of the young pitcher was tested in the fourth inning when Cleveland loaded the bases with one out on a double by Garko and walks to Peralta and Kelly Shoppach.

Gut check time.

But for a man who has been tested by one of life's worst situations, a little bit of baseball drama must have seemed like a walk in the park.

At least that's the way it appeared when the calm & cool 23-year-old who was making just his 17th career start got Josh Barfield to tap right back to him for a force at the plate, then icily fanned Sizemore swinging to end the inning with a fist-pumping flourish.

Had the kid left the game right then he would have been hailed as a hero, and no one would have questioned the move.

Except Lester figured he'd waited so long to get back here, so why leave early?

He pitched the next two innings, facing the minimum six batters thanks to another double play, and things were going so good for Boston that no one really cared when Manny hot-dogged his way out of a double after he thought he had hit a homer in the fifth.

By the time Mike Timlin took over in the seventh the Boston dugout was full of congratulatory hugs for the determined youngster, who had overcome so much just to be able to do something many of them take for granted, that everyone in the building knew the Sox weren't going to let this win slip away for him.

So when Manny Delcarmen got Shoppach to ground out to Lowell to end the game, it didn't take a Rhodes scholar to figure out who was going to get the game ball.

After all, Jon Lester earned it.

NOTES

• Coco extra crispy: the move back to the top of the lineup didn't faze Coco at all as he logged his second 4-hit game of the season (the other was that 4-4, 2HR game at Atlanta June 18th); he is batting a sizzling .447 (17-38) in his last 10 games with a double, four triples, 9 runs scored and 10 batted in. Can you say "en fuego?"
• Papi was not in the lineup again with the bad shoulder, and according to Tito he is not expected to return until at least Wednesday; Manny was the DH again and Hinske took left, and it's obvious management has seen enough of Wily Mo
• This was Lester's 17th career start, and he now owns a nice 8-2 career mark
• After garrulous Gary Thorne stated that Lester might have lost his strikeout touch, the lefty fanned six from the most disciplined lineup in the league
• Hit show: Boston racked up 14 hits (plus 5 walks), the seventh straight game the team has gone over double digits in that department
• The only starters not to get a hit were Tek (0-2, 2BB) and Hinske (0-3, BB), who saw his six game streak snapped
• Delcarmen (1 1/3IP, 1K) bounced back from a rocky outing yesterday to record his first career save
• Boston scored its final run in the ninth when Coco singled, went to second on Blake's error, to third on a passed ball and scored on an excuse-me single by Pedroia
• Timlin continued his recent rejuvenation with another inning and a third of scoreless work; the vet has not allowed a run since his 2HR, 3run debacle in Seattle on June 25th, the game he almost got decapitated by a splintered bat, a play that he says changed his perspective on pitching
• Old friend Trot Nixon didn't start against the lefty but did pinch hit in the ninth; he flied out to left
• Home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor angered many a player on both sides with his ever-changing strike zone. Youk was especially perturbed by a called strike three in the ninth that was about 6" outside
• For what it's worth: the win made Boston the first team in MLB to record 60 victories this season

QUOTES

"It was supposed to be his night." --Tito on Lester

"That eases any pitcher's mind getting four in the first. It makes it a little easier to go out there and throw strikes."--Lester. (see, I called it!)

"This isn't even about baseball. It just doesn't get any better the way a guy like that comes back to us.--Schill on Lester. Well said, Curt.

RECORD: 60-39
AL EAST: Up 7.5 gms on NYY
STREAK: W-4
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Tue @ CLE 705