LESTER LOSES PERFECTO IN 8TH
BoSox Whitewash Tigers
BOSTON, May 16 (AP) - Jon Lester's bid for perfection was broken up with two
outs in the bottom of the eighth inning on an infield single off the bat of
Austin Jackson, and Lester failed to make it out of the frame, but the Boston
Red Sox still went on to defeat the Detroit Tigers 2-0 at Fenway Park.
Lester came much closer than anyone else thus far this year to finishing off a
perfect game; the best previous effort was broken up in the sixth inning.
The game featured a highly anticipated pitchers duel between Lester and Tigers
starter Max Scherzer, and the two didn't disappoint. While Lester was
repeatedly breezing through the dangerous Detroit batting order, dominated by
right-handed hitters who feast on left-handed pitching, Scherzer was piling up
strikeouts and keeping the Red Sox off the scoreboard.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth when the Red Sox finally
broke through. Scherzer had fanned eight through five innings but Grady
Sizemore led off the sixth with a single to left and David Ortiz followed with a
double off the Green Monster, giving Boston runners on second and third.
Mike Napoli's grounder to second scored Sizemore and though Scherzer worked out
of further difficulty, the Red Sox now led 1-0.
Lester retired the first 23 batters he faced in the game, but after retiring
Victor Martinez on a pop to second and Torii Hunter lined out to right, Lester
worked a 2-2 count to Jackson before yielding a sharp grounder that a diving
Xander Bogaerts was able to knock down. The shortstop had no play and it
was immediately ruled a base hit, ending the perfect game and no-hitter in one
fell swoop. When pinch hitter J.D. Martinez lined a base hit to right,
putting runners on the corners, Red Sox manager John Farrell quickly replaced
Lester with Andrew Miller who immediately fanned Nick Castellanos to end the
threat.
The Red Sox added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. Facing
lefty Phil Coke, Ortiz lined his second double of the game and was replaced on
second base by pinch runner Jonathan Herrera. Justin Miller took over for
Coke but Napoli greeted him with a two-bagger of his own, scoring Herrera to
give Boston a 2-0 advantage. Miller worked out of further difficulty but
the Red Sox took the field in the ninth with a two-run lead.
Koji Uehara took over in the top of the ninth and cruised though a 1-2-3 inning,
striking out two of the three batters he faced, to earn the save.
5/16/2014, Det14-Bos14, Fenway Park 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2014 Tigers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 2014 Red Sox 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 x 2 8 0 9 0 Tigers AB R H BI AVG Red Sox AB R H BI AVG Davis,R lf 4 0 0 0 .294 Pedroia 2b 3 0 0 0 .273 Kinsler 2b 4 0 0 0 .310 Sizemore,G rf 3 1 1 0 .163 Cabrera,Mi 1b 3 0 0 0 .319 Ortiz dh 4 0 3 0 .212 Martinez,V dh 3 0 0 0 .299 Herrera,J pr 0 1 0 0 .333 Hunter,Tor rf 3 0 0 0 .216 Napoli 1b 4 0 2 2 .301 Jackson,A cf 3 0 1 0 .286 Carp lf 2 0 0 0 .209 Avila c 2 0 0 0 .172 Gomes,J lf 0 0 0 0 .253 Martinez,J ph 1 0 1 0 .343 Bogaerts ss 3 0 0 0 .297 Holaday c 0 0 0 0 .294 Bradley cf 4 0 0 0 .206 Castellanos 3b 3 0 0 0 .207 Middlebrooks 3b 4 0 1 0 .171 Worth ss 2 0 0 0 .182 Ross,D c 3 0 1 0 .191 Kelly,D ph 1 0 0 0 .308 30 2 8 2 29 0 2 0 Tigers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Scherzer L 4-2 6.2 6 1 1 3 8 120 75 3.12 Coke 0.1 1 1 1 0 0 5 3 2.31 Miller,Ju 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 10 6 4.38 8.0 8 2 2 4 9 135 84 Red Sox INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Lester W 3-3 7.2 2 0 0 0 6 79 57 2.26 Miller,A H 4 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 4 3 0.50 Uehara S 9 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 11 10 1.59 9.0 2 0 0 0 9 94 70 Det: Martinez,J batted for Avila in the 8th Holaday inserted at c in the 8th Kelly,D batted for Worth in the 9th Bos: Herrera,J ran for Ortiz in the 8th Gomes,J inserted at lf in the 9th 2B-Ortiz 2(6), Napoli(10). RBI-Napoli 2(28). CS-Pedroia. K-Kinsler, Cabrera,Mi, Hunter,Tor 2, Avila 2, Castellanos, Worth, Kelly,D, Pedroia, Carp 2, Bogaerts, Bradley, Middlebrooks 3, Ross,D. BB-Pedroia, Sizemore,G, Carp 2. SH-Bogaerts. GWRBI: Napoli Temperature: 60, Sky: clear, Wind: in from right at 5 MPH. Attendance: 36,940 Game Time: 2:40