Jon Lester (6-10) remembered he used to be an ace this afternoon as Boston (57-59, 28-25 away) drubbed Cleveland (53-62, 30-29 home) 14-1 at Progressive Field. The teams split the four-game series as Lester recorded his first win since June 27 (really) and most strikeouts in over two years.
In only six innings, Lester struck out 12 and allowed one earned run on three hits with two walks. He was backed by an offense that exploded for 16 hits (7 extra base hits), 14 RBIs and five walks (which is a high total for the free-swinging Red Sox). Boston was 9 for 19 with runners in scoring position which is more regularly the result of multiple games.
Without David Ortiz and Will Middlebrooks, Boston's four best remaining hitters had big days: Carl Crawford had three doubles, three RBIs and two runs; Adrian Gonzalez had a double, home run (13th of the season; he leads the AL in RBIs since the All-Star break), walk, two runs and four RBIs; Dustin Pedroia scored three runs, had two hits (double), an RBI and walk while Jacoby Ellsbury was 2 for 5 with a double, two runs and two RBIs. Not to be overshadowed, Mike Aviles was 3 for 3 with a double, three runs, a walk and stolen base.
Poor Indians rookie Corey Kluber (0-1) served as batting practice for this mediocre team. He wasn't fooling anybody as he allowed six earned runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings. Things didn't improve when Josh Tomlin was the first guy out of the bullpen for Cleveland and he was charged with seven earned runs in 1.1 innings.
This was the rare baseball game that was over by the fifth inning as the Red Sox opened up their 14-1 lead. That made for some extended garbage time, fittingly in their last day in a worthless city.
Boston gets tomorrow off then they play three games in Baltimore (62-53, 3rd in AL East) who are still playing like a team that will be alive in October. Josh Beckett (5-9) faces Wei-Yin Chen (10-7) on Tuesday night (7:05 p.m., NESN), Aaron Cook (3-5) opposes Miguel Gonzalez (4-2) on Wednesday night (7:05 p.m., NESN) and Clay Buchholz (10-3) takes the mound against Chris Tillman (5-2) in the finale on Thursday night (7:05 p.m., NESN).
The Orioles have had the Red Sox' number since last September and I expect that to continue this week since they are legitimately in the playoff hunt so every game counts. This is the middle series before Boston concludes its grueling 10-game road trip in New York next weekend. As for Lester, we can only wait until his next start (Saturday vs. Yankees) to decide if today was a blip against a weak-hitting opponent or the start of something good at the end of the season.
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