But the road losing streak is serious, if not puzzling. Detroit, where the Red Sox went 3-1, marked the team's last haven away from home. That was followed by nightmarish trips through Minnesota (1-3) and Baltimore (0-2). After a 7-0 homestand, the Sox hit the road again and promptly dropped three straight in Oakland. So perhaps Seattle, where the team flew last night, will be the place to break the string, the place to get the Red Sox' road record looking a bit more like its home version, where they boast the best winning percentage in the majors.
Because, though the team had both good (Josh Beckett) and bad (Tim Wakefield) pitching in Oakland, it was in the batter's box where the team struggled, with just six runs over the three games.
"They threw the ball really well," catcher Jason Varitek said. "Everyone made multiple different pitches ahead or behind in the count. It took some of the aggressiveness out of our at-bats."
But, still, Lester wasn't nearly the pitcher he was last Monday. And that wasn't just because he didn't throw a no-hitter. While he had improved in nearly every category - from throwing first-pitch strikes to efficiency recently - that wasn't the case yesterday.
"All the positives that we talked about in the start before, getting ahead, dictating the count, I did the complete opposite today," said Lester, who allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits and two walks in five innings. "It was just frustrating. I could never really find a rhythm, couldn't get a tempo. All the things that we had strived to get better at this year, it just seemed like I took a step backwards where it came to that."
Varitek wouldn't go that far, but it was apparent from the outset Lester was in for a tough afternoon. Hannahan came around to score after his leadoff single courtesy of Emil Brown's two-out single. That was followed by another run in the third, Ramírez's error in left field leaving Hannahan on third to lead off. He came home on Mike Sweeney's single.
