The left-hander is back on track, but his team isn't scoring runs for him.
Jon Lester had a shutout until the sixth against Texas Tuesday, but left with a 3-0 deficit.BOSTON - It took only a couple of weeks for Jon Lester to change from hard-hit starter to hard-luck loser.
The Red Sox left-hander had one of his better outings in a mostly discouraging season Tuesday night, only to draw the short straw in a 6-3 loss to the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park.
"A couple of bad pitches out of 111. I'll take my chances with that,'' said Lester, whose pitching was better than his math on a night he actually threw 116.
It was not enough to win, but Lester is convinced he has to move forward and build on positive signs.
"I can't keep talking about being frustrated. Everybody knows we're frustrated - we don't like losing,'' he said.
"The last three starts, though, I've thrown the ball better than I have all year. I feel great physically, and I feel we've made the right adjustments.
"I'm keeping the ball down in the zone. There were not a lot of hard-hit balls.''
Many of those hard-hit balls came after Lester left. The pitching culprits in this one were the relievers, primarily Mark Melancon, who allowed an inherited run in the seventh and coughed up one of his own in the eighth.
That sabotaged a Sox comeback that arose when Will Middlebrooks cut into a 4-0 deficit with a three-run, pinch-hit home run that withstood a long review.
It drove out Texas starter Ryan Dempster, who should have been out of the inning with a shutout. A misplayed single and second baseman Ian Kinsler's error gave Middlebrooks a chance.
Melancon gave one back in the eighth, and Boston's brief two-game winning streak was over.
Hit hard often during the worst season of his career, Lester rustled to life in New York on July 28. He left with a lead the bullpen lost in a game that Boston eventually pulled out.
Building on that performance, Lester allowed three runs in eight innings of a 5-0 loss to Minnesota Thursday. He was sharp again on Tuesday.
The Sox certainly went down fighting Tuesday. Irate at being called out on an eighth-inning checked swing, Dustin Pedroia was ejected in the ninth by first-base umpire Paul Nauert.
That brought manager Bobby Valentine out to argue, and for a few fleeting minutes, the fans were chanting Bobby V's name in a positive way.
It was Pedroia's second career ejection and first at Fenway. He was tossed in Baltimore on Aug. 19, 2008.
The second baseman had left by the time the media entered the clubhouse, but Lester spoke up for him.
"It was a bad call. Petey plays the game so emotionally, and for him to get so fired up ... it was a bad call,'' Lester said.
Nauert will be the plate umpire Wednesday. Lester was asked if there might be repercussions.
"Go ask (Nauert). I don't know,'' the pitcher said.
That Lester is regaining his form is indisputable, but he is still 0-5 in his last seven starts and 5-10 overall.
He allowed four runs on six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He and Dempster matched zeroes until doubles by David Murphy and Kinsler, and then Josh Hamilton's single, gave Texas a 2-0 lead in the sixth.
Murphy, a former Red Sox outfielder who was swapped in the forgettable 2007 deal for pitcher Eric Gagne, made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Melancon served up Kinsler's second double, letting in a run that was charged to Lester. When Middlebrooks' homer made it 4-3, that run became huge.
Dempster shut out the Red Sox on June 15, when he was still with the Cubs. All three Red Sox runs were unearned.