Well for a long time it looked like John Lackey was going to be the recipient of his second tough loss in a row, and the David Ortiz did what he does best.
With another fine outing, Lackey has brought his ERA down to 3.18. This is almost one full run lower then it was after the May 17 game where he only went 5 1/3 innings giving up five earned runs to the same Detroit Tiger team. Since then he has pitched 29 1/3 innings and given up only five earned runs. That translates into a 1.53 ERA in his last four games. If we were to take out his one bad game in May, Lackey's combined ERA for the months of May and June would currently be at 1.92.
Looking at Lackey's full body of work compared to the other Red Sox starters this season, Lackey is having the best season so far. 10 of his 13 starts have been quality starts. He has the lowest WHIP (1.22) and ERA of any of the starters and ranks in the top ten for ERA, strikeouts, innings pitched, wins and complete games in the AL.
Comparing his current statistics to his career numbers, his ERA has the biggest discrepancy (4.01 career to 3.18 current). The rest of his of his numbers are oddly similar. Pitches per game started (102.6 career 102.5 current), WHIP (1.32 career 1.22 current) and batting average against (.266 career .264 current).
In addition to another fine outing by Lackey and another huge swing by Ortiz, there were some other individual accomplishments which would have been spoiled by a loss. Brock Holt went 4 for 5 with a triple and run scored. His average is currently .339 with a slugging of .478. Mike Napoli came off the DL in style going 3 for 4 with a home run and a walk.
Although they combined for six of the team's 10 strikeouts, Bogaerts and Bradley Jr. did average 5.6 pitches per at-bat. Bradley Jr. did get a hit and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dustin Pedroia in the third to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. Although his error in the seventh inning led to the go-ahead run by the Tigers, Bogaerts did have some spectacular defensive plays at third base.
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