Lester Outduels Price, Sox Beat Rays (8/27/10)

The Sox came into the series 5.5 games behind Tampa Bay in the wild card, meaning this series is a lot more important than people realize with one month to go. The Red Sox drew first blood taking the opener 3-1 behind the erratic pitching of Jon Lester (14-8, 3.12 ERA) and the bat of Victor Martinez.

Tampa Bay starter David Price (15-6, 3.01) was game but made 2 big mistakes. In the top of the first inning Price got off quickly by striking out Marco Scutaro and getting Darnell McDonald to fly out. Then came Victor Martinez who smashed his 11th homer of the year to left field, giving the Sox a quick 1-0 lead.

Now it was up to Jon Lester to preserve the lead. At first he did just fine, throwing more balls than strikes but getting the key outs that kept Tampa off the scoreboard. He did not allow a single run though the first 3 innings he threw.

In the top of the 4th, the Sox worked for their second run. David Ortiz hit a leadoff double but Mike Lowell couldn't advance him by popping up. JD Drew did manage to advance Ortiz on a ground out which brought up Jed Lowrie. The Sox got their first run on a blast and then got their second when Lowrie hit a bloop into centerfield to score Ortiz.

Pitching with a 2 run lead, a little of the Tampa Bay magic that got them tied for first place in late August was used. Jason Bartlett led off and bounced a ball to Marco Scutaro who threw it away, an error that shouldn't have been committed. Carlos Pena then singled but Lester hung on to punch out Evan Longoria. Then the shoddy defense bit the Sox again as Lester uncorked not one, but TWO wild pitches to score Bartlett. Lester recovered to punch out Aybar and got Ben Zobrist to fly out, stranding Pena at third. An error and 2 wild pitches cut the lead to 2-1 after 4.

Turns out Lester and Price were both playing with fire. Lester continued to walk betters and get behind in counts, but were able to get the outs that mattered on his way to a 7 inning, 1 run (unearned), 2 hit ballgame. 5 walks were his downfall but 7 innings and no earned runs qualifies for a quality start. His counterpart Price were giving up hits but got the outs that mattered.

The Sox wrapped up their scoring in the top of the 7th. Scutaro and McDonald both flied out to BJ Upton before Victor Martinez connected off Price again for his 12th homer of the year. By the end of 7th both starters were finished but the Sox had the lead.

In the top of the 8th, Randy Choate came on and shut down the Sox and Daniel Bard did the same in the bottom of the frame. In the top of the 9th, Dan Wheeler shut down the Sox before Jonathan Papelbon came on for the 9th. Jon walked two but also struck out the side for his 33rd save and give Lester is 14th win of the season.

Combined with the New York Yankees loss to the Chicago White Sox, the Sox are now 4.5 games behind both New York and Tampa Bay in the standings. In Game 2 tomorrow night, cy young leader Clay Buchholz (15-5, 2.26 ERA) takes the hill against 2008 ALCS MVP and Red Sox killer Matt Garza (13-7, 3.62 ERA).