It's been a difficult season, but Lester's last five starts have been better.
NEW YORK - The month of August has been unkind to the Red Sox, but it is becoming a renaissance time for a pitcher on the comeback trail.
Jon Lester continued his recent improvement Saturday, allowing one run and five hits in seven innings of a much needed 4-1 win over New York at Yankee Stadium.
"I said a month ago that I wasn't giving up, and that this thing would turn,'' said Lester, who delivered his fifth straight sturdy effort since July 22, when he was pounded 11 runs in four innings by the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park.
"It's always gratifying to see the fruits of your labors. I've gotten back to taking one pitch at a time, which might sound like a dumb answer, but that's what it is.''
The Toronto game in July reportedly provided the motivation for a team meeting with ownership four days later. Several Red Sox players felt manager Bobby Valentine had embarrassed Lester by leaving him in too long.
Whether the reason, Lester's year has changed course. His in-season comeback began on July 28 at New York, when he took a no-decision in a Red Sox win over the Yankees.
This one was even better. Only Curtis Granderson's fourth-inning home run hurt him.
"Even that pitch was a fastball that had life,'' said Valentine, whose team improved to 6-12 in August.
"Jon is using both sides of the plate, his breaking ball is a little harder, his changeup has been good and he's been confident and aggressive.''
Granderson doubled to lead off the seventh. Lester left him stranded at third to finish his day, then later showered praise on catcher Ryan Lavarnway, who made his first start at Yankee Stadium.
"Varney did a great job. We were on the same page, and he was able to slow things down for me, especially in the early innings,'' Lester said.
Lester escaped a two-on, no-out jam in the first, an inning that has given him major trouble. Adrian Gonzalez' two-run homer in the top of the first had given him a quick lead.
Lavarnway marveled at Lester's competitive spirit.
'"We had a solid game plan, and Jon battled his butt off. And he got results,'' the rookie said.
After Lester came Andrew Bailey, who had pitched in Friday's game, but under much less pressure.
Bailey had entered with his team trailing in that one. This time, he came in to guard a 3-1 lead in the eighth.
He struck out Derek Jeter but gave up a single to Nick Swisher and was done. Bailey missed the first 116 games after undergoing thumb surgery, and Valentine is spotting him carefully.
In came lefty Craig Breslow, who coaxed Robinson Cano to hit into a 3-6-3 double play.
Breslow and Lavarnway are both Yale alums. Pairing them up might have created baseball's smartest battery.
"I look at Craig as a pitcher first, then a friend and a Yale man. He's helped me a lot,'' Lavarnway said.
With Alfredo Aceves holding the closer's role and notching his 25th save Saturday, a late-inning relief crew of Bailey, Breslow and lefty Andrew Miller could be pretty solid.
Pedro Ciriaco went 4-for 4. Once again, the 26-year-old shortstop used the Yankees as his personal punching bag.
As he continues to get the first true, extended chance to show his skills, Ciriaco is hitting .343. He is 15-for-29 against New York.
"I'm amazed at what he is and has not been utilized,'' Valentine said.
Newly acquired Yankees reliever Derek Lowe came on in the ninth. The former Red Sox star had beaten his old team as Cleveland's starter on May 10, and had faced them with Atlanta, but this was his first game against them in pinstripes.
Gonzalez' homer was his 14th. Nick Punto drove in a run in the fifth, and played a pretty dazzling game at third base.
Lester's ERA is 3.48 in his last five starts. That number is good, yet probably does not do justice to his uptick.
He gave up four runs in six innings at New York, but one rough inning accounted for three of them.
In his next start, Lester shut out the hard-hitting Texas Rangers until the sixth. His three-hit, 12-strikeout effort in six innings at Cleveland last Sunday was a breakthrough, and this one looked like another.
Lester is 7-10, but after going 0-5 over seven starts from July 3 through Aug. 7, he is 2-0 in his last two games.
At Yankee Stadium, he is 7-2 with a 3.70 lifetime ERA. His career record against the Yankees is 9-4 in 20 starts.