And that's how it went, Jon Lester looking fierce early and hanging on for his second win of the season in an outstanding outing, save for two pitches in the fifth. His 10 strikeouts (in seven innings) tied the career high Lester had back on June 21, 2006, against Washington, less than two weeks after his major league debut.
So after a delayed 9:22 p.m. start, causing the stands to look even emptier than they had in recent homestands, the Sox won their fourth straight game over the Yankees, 6-4, last night in front of an announced 46,426.
Even with two homers on first pitches by Mark Teixeira, one from each side of the plate, and with Ramon Ramirez giving up his first run of the season, the Sox came back strongly from a disappointing series at Tropicana Field.
After Lester was done striking out the side in the first inning - he caught Teixeira looking for the third out - Mike Lowell took the first pitch of the second inning from Phil Hughes out to left field, the ball landing a half-dozen rows up in stands filled with frigid Yankees fans.
When Lester struck out two more in the second inning, it appeared he might be breaking out of the fits-and-starts beginning to his season.
"His stuff was terrific," said manager Terry Francona. "It was as good as we've seen this year. I was really happy the way he threw the ball."
"I felt good, felt strong early on, got in a little bit of a rhythm," Lester said. "I think the biggest thing was not trying to do too much, and then trying to get ahead as best I could. Tek did a great job behind home plate mixing some pitches in, letting me know when we needed to really get after it."
It kept coming. His first time through the order, Lester had six strikeouts, only Nick Swisher (walk), Robinson Cano (fielder's choice), and Jorge Posada (single) not falling victim.
His teammates, meanwhile, were making themselves comfortable in their first trip to the new Yankee Stadium. Ortiz might have gotten lost between the kitchen and the gym before the game, figuring himself safe only in the dugout, but he looked perfectly at home at the plate. Two of his first three at-bats resulted in doubles to right field as the Sox scored one run in each of the first four innings.
