Lester Focusing On Positives After Dropping To 5-10
BOSTON (CBS) - The season of frustration continues for Red Sox starter Jon Lester, who is now winless in his last seven starts.
After shutting down the Rangers for the first five innings, allowing just two hits in that span, Lester was tagged for a pair of runs in each of the sixth and seventh innings, taking his fifth loss in his last six starts in Boston's 6-3 loss Tuesday night.
"I feel great physically. I feel like we've made the right adjustments. The ball is down in the zone. I'm not giving up a bunch of hard-hit balls," said Lester. "Three of four pitches out of 111, I'll take my chances with that.
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"The past three starts I felt like I've thrown the ball better than I have all year, and I'm 0-2," he said.
"It's another heck of a performance. We didn't score the runs and he didn't get the breaks," said manager Bobby Valentine. "Couple of curveballs to a couple of left-handers wound up hurting him."
Lester left with two outs in the sixth, trailing 3-0. Reliever Mark Melancon promptly allowed an RBI single to Ian Kinsler – who tagged Lester for an RBI single in the sixth – to put Texas up 4-0.
The Red Sox rallied for three thanks to a Will Middlebrooks three0run homer in the seventh, but wouldn't get any closer as the Rangers added more insurance in the eighth and ninth innings.
While Lester falls to 5-10 on the season, he is looking towards the positives of his outing.
"I can't keep talking about being frustrated and all this stuff. It's like beating a dead horse." he said. "Everybody obviously knows here that we're frustrated and we don't like losing. But there are positives for me personally in this game that I'm going to take and go forward to the next one."
"I have to look at the positive; have to keep looking at the positive," said Lester. "If an offense like that beats you when you make those mistakes, it is what it is; it was their night. I just need to keep looking at the positive, keep looking forward."
