Jon Lester, DEALING. He goes the distance to shut out Twins, 3-0.
• Lester: 9 IP, 3 H, 8 K
• S. Vogt: 1-4, HR, 2 RBI pic.twitter.com/x1plmt9znY— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 8, 2014
Newly acquired lefty Jon Lester was outstanding as he and the Oakland Athletics shutout the Twins 3-0 in Oakland on Thursday night.
He went the distance to pick up the complete game shutout. Lester (12-7) was perfect through five innings, he pitched around trouble in the sixth and eighth innings to lead the A’s to the victory, while striking out eight.
Jon Lester retires first 15 Twins, and final 5, too, in shutting out Twins 3-0. Ninth time this season Twins have been held scoreless.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) August 8, 2014
Trailing 3-0 in the sixth inning, the Twins best chance to get on the scoreboard missed by just inches. After Lester gave up a pair of hits to lead off the inning, Brian Dozier blasted a fly ball down the left field line that hooked foul by inches. If the ball had even hit the foul pole it would have tied the game, but it wasn’t to be.
Yohan Pino (1-4) threw well, but not quite well enough. He gave up three runs in 5 2/3. A two-run homer by Stephen Vogt put the A’s on the scoreboard. Vogt’s home run broke an 0-for-23 slump.
The Twins just didn’t give Pino any help. Kurt Suzuki finally broke up the perfect game, he had just one of three Twins hits. Chris Colabello and Oswaldo Arcia had the other hits.
The A’s send another tough lefty to the mound on Friday night. Scott Kazmir (12-4) starts for Oakland against Kyle Gibson (10-8) for the Twins.
