By SeanMcAdam
CSNNE.com
NEW YORK -- It was far from his best start of the season. There were too many walks (four) and too many homers (two in the second inning).
But when Jon Lester needed to be good, after the Red Sox rallied to erase an early deficit, he was plenty good enough.
The Yankees climbed to a 4-1 lead Sunday night when Curtis Granderson hit a two-run bomb to right. But after that, Yankee hitters went just 1-for-13 the rest of the way.
That was good enough for a Red Sox 7-5 win, and good enough for Lester to battle enough win his fifth game of the season.
"I had no other choice,'' Lester recounted. "Our offense did a great job of picking me up, kind of changing the momentum of the game.''
After being smacked around for four runs on four hits in his first 1 23 innings, Lester began to "try to mix our pitches a little bit better. Early on . . . to be honest, I didn't have a feel for anything. I didn't have a comfort level. Really, anything that could go bad, did go bad.
Boston Red Sox
"But I was able to get in somewhat of a rhythm and start throwing some more changeups. I think we were able to keep them off-balance a little bit after that. It was just one of those games where, from pitch one, I had to battle through.''
Lester has been dominant many times already this season, including a six-game stretch when he allowed more than two runs just once.
Sunday night was not one of those nights, but he was good enough.
"These ones are big,'' said Lester. "As a starting pitcher when you can go out there without your best stuff and still come out on top, that's a good thing.''
Slowly but surely, the Red Sox are starting to get some offense from the catching position.
Until Sunday night, the Sox hadn't gotten a single homer from either Jason Varitek or Jarrod Saltalamacchia through their first 39 games.
Finally, in the eighth inning, Saltalamacchia connected for a solo belt into the right-field seats off Joba Chamberlain.
Earlier, Saltalamacchia contributed a single and also had a hard lineout to third.
"It felt good,'' said Saltalamacchia. "It felt good to put some good wood on the ball tonight, but especally the homer because it gave us that extra run and let the bullpen come in and breathe a little bit.''
"We'll take offense from anywhere,'' said Terry Francona. "The priority for the catcher is certainly running the game. But it's nice to get some offense from anywhere we can get it.''
For the series, Red Sox catchers were 4-for-11 with a homer.
Second baseman Dustin Pedroia scored a critical run in the seventh when Alex Rodriguez allowed a routine grounder to go under his glove.
Pedroia was on second and appeared to be an easy out as the ball and he arrived at third at almost the same time. Pedroia was set to slow up to try to avoid Rodriguez's tag, but when the chance came, he sped up again and seemed to hit the bag awkwardly with his right foot, turning for home.
It wasn't the same foot (left) which he injured last June, which eventually required surgery and forced him to miss the rest of the season, but still, there was some concern.
Francona checked with Pedroia when he returned to the dugout, but the second baseman remained in the game.
With a rueful smile, Pedroia acknowledged that he hit the bag hard with his right foot, "but I'll play through it.''
Francona continued to state that the goal is to put Carl Crawford back into the top third of the Red Sox batting order.
"Carl's been nothing but professional,'' said Francona. "He won the clubhouse over with his work ethic while he struggled in April. That's why it's kind of easy to be patient with guys like that.''
Marco Scutaro, who has been sidelined with an oblique pull, will rejoin the Red Sox Monday. Scutaro has been home in Miami, working with a physical therapist.
Scutaro is not, however, ready to come off the DL. He's eligible to be activated May 23, but will likely need some at-bats on a rehab assignment.
Sean McAdam can be reached at smcadam@comcastsportsnet.com.Follow Sean on Twitter at http:twitter.comsean_mcadam