Final, Twin Win 5-0: Jon Lester had it going for much of Thursday night, but the Boston bats stayed silent.
Brian Dozier — Who? I know! — turned out to be the Red Sox killer on Thursday, going 3-for-4 with a double, two-run homer and a pair of RBIs to lead the way for a surprisingly potent Twins attack.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox couldn't must more than a pair of Adrian Gonzalez singles on the night, giving an 0-for-4 effort with runners in scoring position.
Lester showed his value on the night, offering likely his best start in the past two months but still seeing his ninth loss of the season tallied on the scorecard.
Lester's final line on the night is as follows — 8 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER and 7 Ks. Definitely noteworthy that he didn't walk a batter for the first time in his last seven starts (June 27 vs. Toronto). A loss is tough, but this could be the sign of a rebirth for Lester.
Mid 9th, Twins 5-0: That's just the insurance that the Twins were looking for.
Alfredo Aceves came on for Lester, and it looked like he'd give the Sox a chance in the bottom half. But Red Sox killer, Brian Dozier, had something to say about that.
After getting a quick strikeout and then allowing a single to Ryan Doumit, Aceves picked off Twins pinch-runner Darin Mastroianni. It wasn't even close really, just a starting "nice to see you, now sit down."
Valencia singled but it was Dozier, who is 3-for-4 with two XBH's on the night — blasted a two-run bomb over the Green Monster to give Minnesota a 5-0 lead.
End 8th, Twins 3-0: Shhhh!
Oh, no, not you. That's just the sound of the Red Sox bats.
Aside from a pair of Adrian Gonzalez hits, Boston has been about as quiet as a mouse on Christmas Eve. This must be fairly miserable to see for Sox fans, especially those expecting a turnaround following Wednesday's loss to Detroit.
Well, Lester did his part but the offense… that's a very different story. 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, atrocious. No wonder wins are coming at such a premium these days.
Mid 8th, Twins 3-0: Jon Lester, professional pitcher.
After nearly two months of mediocrity, Lester has finally found his form again. Three runs in eight innings may not necessarily earn ace standards, but it's a vast improvement over the 21 runs he allowed in his past three starts.
Add another strikeout to his belt, but sadly it could be yet another loss for the loose lefty.
The Boston bats need to make a stand against oncoming reliever Glen Perkins, who, mind you, is ripe for the blasting.
End 7th, Twins 3-0: New pitcher, same results.
Deduno was finished at 101 pitches, to the cheers of Red Sox fans everywhere. But even with a little more pop off Fien's pitches, there's still no runs to show for it.
Middlebrooks really got into one to start the inning, but even a deep blast to the wall in center wasn't even to spark something.
By the way, Ryan Kalish needs to stop watching pitches fly by and step into something. It's like he's afraid of the moment. You've been here before, so stop watching and start doing.
Mid 7th, Twins 3-0: This is going to be an unfortunate loss for Jon Lester.
After seven innings — and possibly even eight — of a solid start on the hill for the Sox, the Boston bats just appear too flummoxed by Deduno to gain any sort of ground on the 3-0 deficit.
Luckily, Deduno's night is over and Casey Fien is on in relief. Maybe they'll have some better luck against this cat than they did against Sammy "too strong" Deduno.
End 6th, Twins 3-0: Is Adrian Gonzalez the only guy capable of hitting Deduno?
After getting two guys on base, yet again, the Red Sox were unable to capitalize. Deduno walked off the field with his hands held high in the air like he had just conquered the final level of Super Mario Bros. 2 — trust me, Bowser was tough.
But, honestly, Boston has two hits against the right-hander and Gonzo's got both of them. We're talking about the second-worst team in baseball, and the Sox can't muster more than two hits?
This is getting pretty disgraceful.
Mid 6th, Twins 3-0: Minnesota is killing the Red Sox with these blooping hits.
There was a few of them in the third inning, and now Ryan Doumit reaches out and nestles a double into short right field yet again, to give the Twins a nice 3-0 cushion.
Lester has looked good all night, aside from a few pitches in the third inning, and has just fallen on some tough luck at times in this one.
He should get at least one more inning on Thursday, though, after tossing just 83 pitches over six innings of work. Oh, and as a side note he's struck out six batters, which is the most he's had in his past three outings.
End 5th, Twins 2-0: Okay, this guy is not this good.
One hit in five innings? What, is he suddenly Cy Young? I'm pretty sure Deduno didn't turn into Pedro Martinez overnight, and three walks tells me that he doesn't have the best control in the world, so it's got to be a Red Sox issue.
That only tells me that the BoSox are just inept at the plate, right now. Aside from Gonzo's blast to left, they've looked utterly befuddled at the plate. And even as Lester finally figures things out, they can't help with the runs he needs.
This could be a problem…
Mid 5th, Twins 2-0: Brian Dozier apparently has it in for Jon Lester.
After singling to kick off the third-inning rally, Dozier did it again to start the fifth with a double to left field.
Lester settled down to get a trio of groundouts. Pedro Ciriaco showed some very intelligent defense, looking Dozier back before throwing over to first for the second putout.
It seems that Lester, who has only thrown 66 pitches through five innings, is handling the pressure much better with runners on and has settled down since the troublesome third. Let's keep it going, Jon!
End 4th, Twins 2-0: So, they got a hit. Finally!
Gonzalez smashed a one-out double to left field, getting Boston its first hit of the evening.
But even a little jaunt down to first from Lavarnway, giving Boston it's second serious threat of the night, couldn't get things going. Middlebrooks gave one a ride, but yet again: no dice.
Mid 4th, Twins 2-0: Hey now! And a leadoff single had me worried…
Jonny boy just needed a little danger to get him going. He got Ryan Doumit to ground into a double play, followed of course by Lester's fourth K of the night, courtesy of a 3-2 cutter on the outside — take a bow!
Lester may have allowed two runs in a struggle-some third, but he remains awfully efficient with just 51 pitches through four innings.
End 3rd, Twins 2-0: Seriously, Red Sox? This Deduno character has now started what, six games this season and 10 in his career, and you can't get a hit off him?
It's embarrasing when you're No. 1 and 2 hitters are just confused by a guys "stuff," the way that Ells and Crawford seemed to be in their first two at bats.
Alright, Lester let's buckle down and keep this as a two-run game. We don't need anymore abysmal blowouts — it's bad for morale.
Mid 3rd, Twins 2-0: Well, the no-hitter's officially over… as if it were ever really realistic. Making matters worse, the Twins are on the board.
Dozier got on with a leadoff single, moving along as Lester worked his way through the lineup. But down 0-2 in the count, Denard Span worked his way back and finally got a fastball worth driving.
Span blasted a double to shallow right field, followed by a blooping single by Ben Revere that gave the Twinkies a 2-0 lead.
The trouble nearly kept coming for Lester too, as Pedroia and Gonzalez both laid off another blooping popup, but Kalish darted in from right field and made a diving save to get out of the inning. Phew!
End 2nd, 0-0: You know what they say, age and treachery beats youth and vigor any day. Apparently Samuel Deduno is a fan of this old adage.
A quick 1-2-3 from the 29-year-old, and this cat is settling in nicely on the hill.
Three straight groundouts from the rookies — Ryan Lavarnway, Middlebrooks and Ryan Kalish — and that 26-pitch first inning is looking a lot less harmful — sitting at 37 pitches through two.
Lavarnway almost got his first hit with the Red Sox on the season, in his first at bat. But Twins shortstop Brian Dozier made an amazing snare and threw the slow-running catcher out at first. Next time, kid!
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Yup, Lester's back!
His fastball is absolutely killing the strike zone, moving like a floater from end to end. And the coveted cutter is both confusing and jamming Twins hitters.
Lester displayed a level of dominance on the mound expected at season's start, but he also is showing the efficiency — throwing just 22 pitches through two innings — last seen from him during 6 2/3 innings of success on July 3 in Oakland.
End 1st Inning, 0-0: I don't know much about this Samuel Deduno fella, but what is becoming obvious: he's damn good.
A couple of quick outs from Ellsbury and Crawford were a solid start, but it's Deduno's breaking ball that really opened eyes. The pitch is a nasty slider that breaks halfway across the plate and had both Crawford and Ells swinging like fools at the dish.
A pair of walks to Pedroia and Gonzalez offered some concern for the 29-year-old, but after a brief mound visit he got Cody Ross to fly out to short to cut the threat short.
Mid 1st Inning, 0-0: Wait a second, that can't be Jon Lester. The Jon Lester I know doesn't throw clean first innings.
Anywho, until we figure out who this imposter is, I'll let him continue to take the mound. He struck out both of the first two batters, offering hope of a return to his ace form yet.
More of this and he might even get a win on Thursday night. But let's not get too crazy, right…
7:05 p.m.: Game time!
Break out the popcorn and maybe a few "cokes," and we'll collectively hope that Jon Lester has finally figured out his mechanical issues.
I'll be keeping you up to date on everything Red Sox for the next few hours and tweeting about it at @LHSkywalker so stick with the live blog and stay informed.
6:50 p.m.: As we inch closer to game time, there's been an interesting trend a buzz throughout MLB on Thursday.
A number of MLB team facebook pages have been hacked, and some hilarious comments have been posted. Starting of course with the hated Yankees and a post about All-Star shortstop Derek Jeter.
Check out the hilarious Yankee hating in the tweet below, as well as some more hysterically inaccurate tweets from your favorite MLB teams.
So the @yankees apparently just reported that Derek Jeter is having a "sexual reassignment surgery" via Facebook. twitter.com/ebaumsworld/st…
— eBaumsworld (@ebaumsworld) August 2, 2012
6:14 p.m.: Interesting free-agent note, Derek Lowe was designated for assignment by the Indians earlier in the day on Thursday.
The former Red Sox, Dodgers and Braves pitcher will liekly make it through the waiver process — as is customary with DFA'd players — as no team likely wants to pay the $5 million left on his deal.
That could offer an interesting option for the Red Sox, though, especially considering the struggles of Boston's rotation at times this season.
Check out some tweets regarding Lowe's options, and the Red Sox likelihood of signing the former 20-game winner.
The Nationals have a high number of Boras clients, and you wonder if Derek Lowe might be the next to join WAS, after being cut by CLE.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) August 2, 2012
Derek Lowe said he just needs "a tuneup" working with personal trainer chris correnti atfort myers home. Would love red sox reunion
— Nick Cafardo (@nickcafardo) August 2, 2012
Derek Lowe told us that the #RedSox would be the top team on his list of places he would like to land.
— Marc Bertrand (@Marc_Bertrand) August 2, 2012
5:27 p.m.: David Ortiz is still technically on the disabled list, but he could be making a return to the Red Sox sooner than you think.
The All-Star DH was out on the field, working out with his teammates before Thursday's game with the Minnesota Twins.
Big Papi spent some time jogging around the field and doing some agility drills with one of the team's trainers.
Check out Ortiz testing his injured Achilles in the photo below. Shout out to NESN's Tom Caron for the photo.
Photo via Twitter/@TomCaron
5:15 p.m.: Ryan Lavarnway will make his return to the big leagues on Thursday night, and he'll do so as the Red Sox' starting catcher.
Samuel Deduno gets the start for the Twins, and it will be his first career appearance versus the Red Sox. Jon Lester, who owns 1-3 record with a 4.96 ERA in his career against Minnesota, takes the ball for Boston in the series opener.
Here is the Red Sox starting lineup.
Red Sox:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Carl Crawford, LF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Cody Ross, DH
Ryan Lavarnway, C
Will Middlebrooks, 3B
Ryan Kalish, RF
Pedro Ciriaco, SS
Jon Lester, P
Twins:
Denard Span, CF
Ben Revere, RF
Josh Willingham, DH
Justin Morneau, 1B
Ryan Doumit, LF
Danny Valencia, 3B
Brian Dozier, SS
Drew Butera, C
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Samuel Deduno, P
8 a.m. ET: The Red Sox couldn't quite pull out the sweep against the Tigers on Wednesday night. But a 7-5 loss isn't going to slow down the heavy-hitting Boston bats.
Carl Crawford slugged another home run on Wednesday — his second of the season — and Adrian Gonzalez continued his torrid start to the second half, getting his average back above .300. The loss was unfortunate for a suddenly streaking Sox team, but it provided yet another wake up call that they must maintain more consistency if they hope to reach the playoffs.
Jon Lester, meanwhile, will take the mound on Thursday night against Joe Mauer and the Minnesota Twins. The Twins have been terrible on the whole this season, but still provide enough punch in their lineup to cause a serious problem for opposing pitchers. Lester will need to continue his trek back to early-season form if the Sox have any hopes of a win in the opener of a four-game set at Fenway.
Tune into NESN for all your Red Sox coverage, starting at 6 p.m. with the pregame show. First Pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., and we'll have all the info and analysis for you on Thursday's tussle with the Twins.
