Southpaw Resurgence
Jon Lester stymied one of the hottest-hitting teams in the league over seven and one-third innings, permitting a scant three hits and four walks while striking out six. The lefty didn’t allow an extra base hit and the earned run marring his line was due to Craig Breslow letting an inherited runner score.
As he did in the first game Carl Crawford was an important cog in Don Mattingly’s comeback machinations. Crawford pinch hit for Brian Wilson in the bottom of the eighth and drew a base on balls. Yasiel Puig scorched a single to center and Adrian Gonzalez drove them both in with a ringing double. The Los Angeles fans who arrived a few innings before had something to cheer about, or would have, had they stayed this late in the game.
After Breslow allowed Hanley Ramirez a base on balls John Farrell pulled him in favor of Koji Uehara. Uehara struck out A.J. Ellis on six pitches and then closed the ninth with a mere 10 pitches.
Xander Bogaerts pinch hit in the ninth and laced his first major league hit, a single to Puig. There were enough Red Sox fans in the stands to hear a cheer for what will hopefully be the first of the rookie’s many milestones.
Rookie hurler Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched rather well except for the first inning. Mike Napoli singled in Shane Victorino in what is hopefully a late-season resurgence. Jonny Gomes smacked a three-run home run that a fan standing on a stairway in the left field concourse nearly caught. Ryu displayed impressive control for the remainder of his outing, walking none and striking out seven.
In Hangul Ryu’s name is 류현진. The writing system for Korean is widely lauded for its rational development. Hangul’s featural design is such that the visual representation of the letters align with how the mouth is shaped when it utters the sound. King Sejong the Great created the script so that common people could learn to read. He wrote, “Therefore amongst uneducated people there have been many who, having something that they wish to put into words, have been unable to express their thoughts in writing. I am greatly distressed because of this, and so I have made twenty-eight new letters. Let everyone practice them at their ease, and adapt them to their daily use.”
| Game 131: August 24, 2013 | ||
 Boston Red Sox76-55 |
4 | W: Jon Lester (12-7) S: Koji Uehara (13) |
| 2B: Stephen Drew (21), Dustin Pedroia (31) HR: Jonny Gomes (11) | ||
| Los Angeles Dodgers 76-53 |
2 | L: Hyun-Jin Ryu (12-5) |
| 2B: Adrian Gonzalez (28) | ||
