Jon Lester started off the season on a sour note by going winless in his first three starts but the southpaw has bounced back tremendously in the last four weeks and has lived up to his ace title.
Despite allowing four earned runs on Saturday night against the Tigers, the Sox ace struck out 10 over seven frames and took the no decision in Boston’s 7-6 loss. In his last five starts, he’s 3-0 with a 1.84 ERA over 34 2/3 innings.
Lester isn’t alone when it comes to prized lefties, as the American League is swimming with them. Heading into Sunday’s games, four of the top six pitchers in the league are southpaws.
Former Cy Young Award winner and current Yankee ace CC Sabathia has owned the title of the game’s most dominant lefty in recent years. This year, he’s at 4-2 with a 3.71 ERA and has two complete games already. Another Yankee lefty, Andy Pettite, is a perfect 5-0 through his first seven starts and owns a 1.79 ERA, which is fourth-best among AL starters.
Tampa Bay’s David Price continues to live up to the hype as the Rays’ southpaw is 5-1 with a 2.03 ERA for the MLB’s top team.
Somewhat unnoticed by AL East fans, Rangers’ starter C.J. Wilson is pacing the Rangers with an incredible 1.48 ERA to match a 3-1 record. AL Central hurler, Chicago’s John Danks, is 3-2 with a 2.25 ERA.
With the abundance of great lefties in the league, John in Bangor, Maine wonders: Who is the most dominant lefty in the AL?
As of 8 a.m. ET on Monday, 82 percent of voters think Lester is while nine percent believe Sabathia reigns supreme among AL lefties with the remaining nine percent think it’s neither of these two.
Text ‘SOX1’ for Lester, ‘SOX2’ for Sabathia, ‘SOX3’ for Other to 542542. Results will be revealed later in NESN’s pre and postgame shows and you can view the latest results and vote at NESN.com/kgb.
