Jon Lester tossed a three-inning, simulated game on the back field at City of Palms Park, a makeup for missing a start Sunday due to the flu. He threw 46 pitches and remains on track to start on turn Friday at Minnesota.
The lefty said there were no issues whatsoever with his strength or stamina.
“I think everything went well,” Lester said. “I felt good, almost felt too good. Everything’s fine as far as physically and keeping the energy and keeping the delivery in the third inning.”
As Lester walked back into the clubhouse to cool down, John Lackey was just getting revved up for four scoreless innings against the Baltimore Orioles. Lackey only threw two innings his first time out but was so efficient early in this one that he earned an increase of two frames.
The first man that Lackey faced — outfielder Matt Angle — singled. The next 12 were set down in order, seven on grounders.
He, too, got through the day about as good as can be.
“Happy with my fastball location today, for sure,” Lackey said. “My rotation on my four-seam fastball was nice. It was nice and true. I haven’t started to throw my cutter yet. Probably do that next start. It was a good step forward.”
After a weekend that included a trip to Tampa to play the Yankees on Friday night, a split-squad day Saturday and a seven-hour round trip to Port St. Lucie on Sunday, manager Terry Francona was thankful for a relaxing day at home, where he could take in that “good step forward.”
“He was commanding very well,” Francona said of Lackey. “His touch and feel looked so good, it was nice to see. He’s pitching to contact and throwing a lot of strikes. Just thought he had a real nice feel.”
While Lackey had some adrenaline to help him along, Lester had to manufacture some of his own to create an atmosphere.
Not much of an issue for a guy who thrives on competition.
“I need that extra adrenaline just because it’s something you need to learn how to pitch with,” said Lester, who faced Ryan Lavarnway, Oscar Tejeda, Che-Hsuan Lin and Hector Luna. “You need to learn how to harness that energy and use it in the right way instead of letting your body get out of hand and not being able to repeat. That’s something you definitely need to get under your belt before the real thing begins.”
His manager, who normally just gets to see his pitchers perform from the dugout, took in a portion of the simulated game from behind the mound, and a portion from behind the cage.
“You never get to be that close to him when he’s pitching,” Francona said. “His stuff is amazing. That cutter, two-seamer, when you get to sit behind the cage there, that’s fun to watch.”
The day after Lester takes on the Twins at Hammond Stadium on Friday, Lackey will pitch again at home vs. Florida. Both are progressing just fine after an easy day at the park Monday.
