It's no secret that the Red Sox pitching has ... struggled this season. At least, I'm pretty sure a team ERA of 4.78 (second-worst in the AL, ahead of only the Royals could be defined as "struggling." So you can understand the excitement over back-to-back great outings from a starting pitcher. First, Clay Buchholz allowed just two runs while striking out seven in 8.0 inning pitched in a 3-2 win Wednesday night. And then, Jon Lester bested that performance with his start on Thursday.
Jon Lester pitched a six-hit complete game on Thursday night in a 6-2 win over the Twins. Lester was just filthy, throwing just 103 pitches and keeping the Twins at bay the entire game. Lester allowed two runs (one earned), no walks and struck out nine. It was just one of those games from The Ace. [...]
This was exactly what the Red Sox's needed from Lester tonight. Sure, they had a great start from Buchholz last night. But great teams are ability to string together great starts and just win games. All of a sudden, the Red Sox have won three games in a row against two of the best teams in baseball (Yankees, Twins). It just took The Ace and The Assistant Ace (Buchholz) to get it done.
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