Jon Lester has a case of the Dice-K syndrome.
Symptoms – Solid pitching in the first few innings, ability to work out of jams, get strikeouts when needed early on, erupt in one particular inning.
Result tonight – A five run fifth inning capped off by a Justin Morneau three-run line drive homer to right.
Lester lasted six innings, on six hits, five runs, three walks and four strikeouts.
Jacoby Ellsbury pushed his hitting streak to 21 games in the first inning with a leadoff single against Nick Blackburn.
Boston got their runs in the fifth on an RBI double by Dustin Pedroia to score Ellsbury and a J.D. Drew fielder’s choice double play in the seventh.
Goat of the Game – Lester
A 1-0 lead in the fifth inning evaporated rather quickly with a Nick Punto RBI single, Denard Span RBI groundout and Morneau’s 14th jack of the season.
Next Game – 5/27 vs. Minnesota Twins – Daisuke Matsuzaka/Kevin Slowey
Dice-K looks for his first win of the season against Slowey who is 6-1.
