Highlights: Relievers Foulke and Embree ganged up on their former team for a combined one and one-third inning of perfect pitching with two strikeouts. Sometime last night Geremi (also spelled Jeremi) Gonzalez was struck by lightning and killed in Venezuela. All three were teammates on the 2005 team.
For the fourth time this season Boston was swept. The other trouncings came against the Blue Jays, the Rays, and the Orioles, and they all, like this one, happened on the road. From the beginning of the game it seemed the Red Sox bats would come to life; David Ortiz homered in the first frame.
But Emil Brown responded with an RBI single in the bottom of the first and the visitors would not take the lead again. Manny Ramirez lined a single into center with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth to score two more runs, but that was all the scoring his team could muster.
Ramirez's single would have tied the game were it not for the left fielder's play in the bottom of the third. The outfielder backed up on Hannahan's fly ball and took a poor angle for a catch. The ball ricocheted out of his glove and he nearly Alex Riosed it over the wall. Instead the gaffe was a mere three-base error.
Jon Lester made his first start since his no-hitter on May 19 and came back to earth after establishing that career capstone. Jack Hannahan ended the suspense quickly with a leadoff line drive single to left on a 1-2 fastball that had too much of the plate. Lester lasted five innings, long enough to end up on the losing side of the decision, giving up seven hits, four runs (three earned), two walks, and three strikeouts.
One decision Lester did have complete control over was to speak openly about his father's diagnosis of lymphoma. It's a different kind of lymphoma than his own, but nonetheless the elder Lester must to undergo similar tiring treatments that his son lived through. In an interview segment on ESPN Lester stated that his father has urged him to speak out more about his experiences and be an advocate for cancer survivors.
"I am not a role model," Charles Barkley famously declared in a Nike commercial. But sometimes there are athletes who can credibly share their life's struggles and inspire others in their own battles, even their own fathers.