Lester leads Sox to 5-1 victory over Rays

Published On March 18, 2013 | By Meghan Riggs

Final Score: Boston Red Sox 5, Tampa Bay Rays 1

Boston starter Jon Lester struck out six over six perfect innings to help the Red Sox defeat the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-1, on Sunday in spring training action.

Anthony Carter and Joel Hanrahan each spun a perfect inning in relief to keep the perfect game going, but in the ninth, Marco Duarte gave up a one-out single to Jason Bourgeois, who scored two batters later on Cole Figueroa’s two-out double to account for Tampa Bay’s lone run.

Highlights

  • The Red Sox wore their green uniforms and caps on St. Patrick’s Day. The tradition was started in 1990 when Roger Clemens purchased green caps for the entire team.
  • The Sox had nine hits and improved to 5-0-1 in the last six games.
  • Tampa Bay starter Alex Cobb gave up four runs – three earned – and six hits in 5 1-3 innings with five strikeouts.

Players of the Game

  • Jon Lester struck out six and threw 53 of 79 pitches for strikes. He has allowed two runs, six hits and four walks over five starts and 20 innings, striking out 16. Four of Lester’s six strikeouts ended innings.
  • Jonny Gomes was 3 for 3 with a double and four RBIs, all coming against right-handed pitchers.
  • Will Middlebrooks was 2 for 3 with two doubles. He is 6 of his last 17 with five extra-base hits.

Quote of the Game

“I was able to get in a good rhythm early on, established our fastball, just kind of went from there,” Lester said. “I had a good breaking ball today, which was good to see. We’ve been working on that. So all in all it was good day.”

Looking Ahead

The Pittsburgh Pirates will host the Red Sox on Monday at 1:05 p.m. at McKechnie Field.

Comments are closed.

About The Author

Meghan is a junior at Boston University majoring in broadcast journalism and minoring in communications. She has been an athlete her whole life and is a member of the Women’s Ice Hockey team at BU. She is also a member of BUTV10’s sports talk show, Off Sides.