BOS 11, BAL 5: Less than Lester, Still Good Enough

Even an uninspiring performance by Jon Lester was enough to get the job done against an Orioles team that has all but thrown in the orange towel, as Boston beat Baltimore, 11-5, on Saturday. It was the Red Sox bats that locked up the 12th consecutive series win against the Orioles, behind a shaky outing six inning stretch where Lester gave up ten hits. But as he continued to miss his spots (only 62 strikes over 102 pitches), the offense was busy at work against an already depleted Orioles pitching staff. Orioles starter David Hernandez gave up three earned runs on seven hits in his six innings of work, two to Dustin Pedroia, two to Kevin Youkilis, two to David Ortiz, and two to J.D. Drew. With the game tied up at three a piece going into the seventh inning, the Sox opened the game up with three runs just before the stretch, and then added another five runs in the eighth. J.D. Drew blasted a three run shot off Bob McCrory in the eighth, and the next batter, Brian Anders...