Maybe it was the 21-minute break between the bottom of the fourth and the bottom of the fifth, during which the Red Sox went ahead 3-2 on Dustin Pedroia’s laser blast into the left-field stands.
Maybe it was simply more of the lack of sharpness that’s afflicted Jon Lester in his previous three starts.
Either way, Lester was greeted in the bottom of the fifth by Mark Reynolds’ double off the wall in right field. Reynolds moved to third on a grounder to second base. But with the infield drawn in, Nolan Reimold slapped a grounder toward shortstop Marco Scutaro. Reynolds was running on contact, and Scutaro’s throw home was good enough to nail the runner on a play that wasn’t particularly close.
Lester escaped the inning by retiring leadoff man Robert Andino on another easy grounder to Scutaro. With the Rays getting blown out by the Yankees and their Amazing Corps of Second String Relief Pitchers, you might forgive the Red Sox and their fans for starting to think about October …