G57: Red Sox 8, Orioles 2

Red Sox - 000 000 116 - 8 9 0
Orioles - 000 000 002 - 2 6 0 

Lester was strong (6.1-4-0-3-4, 102), but simply ran out of gas in the seventh inning. With one out and Boston up 1-0, he walked the bases loaded (his only walks), as almost every one of his pitches was sailing up out of the strike zone.

Daniel Bard came in and calmly put out the fire, getting pinch-hitter Luke Scott to fly out to shallow center and Corey Patterson to foul out to third. Bard also pitched a perfect eighth, with two 3-1 grounders and a strikeout.

Kevin Youkilis's line drive home run to left put the Sox on the board and Josh Reddick's triple and Marco Scutaro's single upped the lead to 2-0 in the eighth. Those hits ended Guthrie's night (7.1-5-2-1-4, 95). He had been superb, at one point retiring 15 batters in a row.

Boston sent 11 men to the plate in the ninth inning, with Darnell McDonald, Bill Hall, and Youkilis each whacking two-run doubles.

The Rays lost to the Rangers (again) 6-1 and the Yankees lost to the Blue Jays 3-2 in 14 innings. Tampa Bay stays 2 GA of New York, but only 3.5 GA of Boston and Toronto.

Jon Lester / Jeremy Guthrie

Scutaro, SS
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Youkilis, 3B
Martinez, 1B
Drew, RF
Varitek, C
Reddick, CF
Hall, LF

Jeremy Hermida is getting x-rays and an MRI on his ribs. Adrian Beltre is also out of the lineup (sore knee). Josh Reddick has been called up. The corresponding roster move has not been announced. [Now it has: Scott Atchison to Pawtucket.]

On April 24, Lester had a bloated 8.44 ERA. Since then, he has made eight starts and posted a 1.43 ERA. Earned runs allowed in those starts: 0, 0, 1, 2, 4, 1, 0, 1. His overall ERA of 2.97 is 10th in the AL.

Lester leads the league in Fewest Hits per 9 Innings (6.19) and he is 3rd in Most Strikeouts per 9 Innings (9.54).

Yankees/Blue Jays, 1 PM
Rays/Rangers, 4 PM