Jon Lester has acted as both stopper and ace for the Red Sox all season, and the 24-year-old lefty wunderkind did it again Monday night when his team needed it most.
Lester did his best Josh Beckett impersonation in dominating the Angels hitters for seven shutout innings, but he also needed a little ninth-inning assistance from the offense after the bullpen couldn't hold the two-run lead. Lester was 5-1 with a 1.41 ERA in seven starts following a Sox loss during the regular season and again showed in the decisive Game 4 of the ALDS why he's both the best antidote to a Boston losing streak and a certified postseason weapon of mass destruction.
Pitching Lester twice, or even three times, in a playoff series tilts the odds considerably into Boston's favor going forward -- and that's before one considers the other talented members of the starting rotation, a solid defense and an offense capable of scoring enough to win.
In three postseason starts, Lester has pitched 19 2/3 innings and has yet to allow an earned run in a baseball success story that's like a made-for-TV-movie in the making. Move over, Big Game Beckett and Big Schill, there's a new big game sheriff in Boston, and he looks as if he's going to be wearing Red Stockings for a while.
"Jon Lester is a man among boys out there right now," Josh Beckett said. "When he wants to throw his fastball 97 mph, then he can throw his fastball 97 mph right now. That's fun to watch. You just sit back at times and watch and say to yourself, 'This is something pretty special.'"
Lester was hitting 96-97 mph on the radar gun with a crackling, overwhelming fastball mixed with the same cutter and changeup combination he has utilized all season to great success. Lester simply overpowered the Angels twice in the five-game playoff series and was the difference between advancement and a first round exit. The win improves him to 2-0 in the postseason and lowers his overall postseason ERA to a microscopic 0.77 in 23 1/3 innings.
RED SOX 3, ANGELS 2: SS Jed Lowrie sliced a seeing-eye single through the hole between first base and second base that scored LF Jason Bay from second base in the bottom of the ninth, ending a riveting walk-off win. LHP Jon Lester tossed seven innings of shutout ball to give the Sox a 2-0 lead, but the bullpen faltered in the eighth and allowed the Angels back into the game. Lowrie and Bay both finished with two hits in the ALDS-deciding Game 4 victory.
