Two years ago on that date, Lackey led the Angels to a 6-2 win at Fenway Park, carrying a no-hitter into the ninth inning. Dustin Pedroia, who is now in charge of gobbling up Lackey-induced ground balls, hit a clean single into left field with one out in the ninth inning, robbing Lackey of the chance to complete the no-no. Kevin Youkilis, rather rudely, homered in the next at-bat, costing Lackey the shutout.
On Thursday night, Lackey was in top form once again, baffling the Mariners through seven innings. Three batters had reached base — one via walk, one on a hit by pitch, another after a Bill Hall error — but nobody could get a hit off the Red Sox' big righty.
In the bottom of the eighth, with Lackey just six outs away from his first no-hitter, he retired Justin Smoak and Casey Kotchman in just four pitches. In stepped Josh Bard, the one-time Sox catcher who was hitting well below .200. Of course, that didn't matter when Bard lined a 1-2 pitch into shallow right-center field. Lackey gave up a hit in the next at-bat but retired Ichiro Suzuki to end the eighth.
He couldn't deliver a no-hitter for the Red Sox, but he did give them exactly what they needed.
Of course, Manny Delcarmen recorded zero outs in getting tagged for four runs in the ninth, so Lackey didn't get credit for a win, but Lackey showed that he's here to pitch with great confidence through the dog days of summer.
Since a mostly mediocre first half (one in which he still managed to pick up nine wins), Lackey has been a force in his two starts after the All-Star break. Though he hasn't recorded a decision in either start, he's pitched 15 innings, giving up just two earned runs on nine hits and three walks. He's struck out nine, his WHIP is 0.800 and opposing batters are hitting just .173 against him.
Finally, Lackey is looking like the $82.5 million man who was brought in to make the Red Sox' rotation one of the best in all of baseball. The more he keeps it up, the more important each start becomes. Based on the way he's looked lately, that's a good thing.