Lester brilliant; Gomes blast leads Red Sox over A’s, 6-3
By Sean Sylver
May 3, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher
Jon Lester(31) pitches against the Oakland Athletics during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
Jon Lester was nearly unhittable. He only needed to be average; Hacksaw Jonny Gomes gave him all the run support he needed with a first inning grand slam as the Boston Red Sox went on to a 6-3 win over the Oakland A’s at Fenway Park on Saturday.
The left-hander (3-4) struck out a career-high 15 and yielded only one hit in eight innings of work. After being the hard luck loser a few times in the early going this season, it was nice to see Lester work with a lead as he made the A’s look silly all afternoon.
Gomes jacked a first inning Tommy Milone (0-3) offering over the Monster to score Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz, who had walked, and Xander Bogaerts, who had singled to center. The Sox took a 4-0 lead and never looked back.
Ortiz and David Ross also went deep for Boston, who for the second straight night backed up a solid pitching performance with power hitting.
Chris Capuano, unscored upon through his first twelve appearances, got whacked around for three runs in the ninth. Koji Uehara closed out the game with only one further incident — a throwing error by David Ross that allowed Capuano’s third run to score.
The Red Sox look to sweep the series with John Lackey taking the hill against Oakland ace Sonny Gray at 1:35 PM.