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Will Jon Lester Debut On Saturday?
By Administrator | June 5, 2006
Jon Lester was scheduled to pitch two nights ago (on Saturday) for Triple-A Pawtucket… but the PawSox shuffled their rotation in order to push his start back until tonight. He is scheduled to pitch in Indianapolis.
Why? Although there was no official announcement from the Red Sox, it appears quite likely that the rotation was manipulated so that the 22-year-old southpaw can make his major league debut Saturday in Fenway Park… when the Red Sox will play a day-night doubleheader against the Texas Rangers.
Lester, drafted in the second round in 2002, has been brought along slowly by the Red Sox… but his pitch count has been slowly increased to protect him against over-use. It has been speculated that the ballclub has done this so that his arm will be ‘fresh’ in case the Red Sox need him for the stretch run in the second half. In his last five outings he has pitched only 26 innings, allowing 4 earned runs on 20 hits… with 12 walks and 19 strikeouts. The base-on-balls total remains too high.
Overall, Lester comes into his start tonight with a 3-4 record and 2.95 ERA with 40 strikeouts and 20 walks in 42 2/3 innings.
Topics: Sox Players |
