Doubront pitches ‘excellent' but can't break winless skid

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BOSTON -- In your classic case of win-loss records being deceiving for starting pitchers, Felix Doubront allowed only two runs on four hits and five walks while striking out five in 6 13 innings on Thursday night against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park.
In the process, he picked up his ninth loss of the season.
Doubront is now winless in his last eight starts, and Thursday night marked his first quality start since July 29. That was a no-decision against New York at Yankee Stadium.
In those last eight starts, Doubront is 0-5. He pitched well enough of Thursday night to get his 11th win of the season. Had only his offense not been shut out.
"I thought Felix was excellent tonight," said Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine. "The last few starts, he couldn't quite break through that challenging inning in the middle of the game. Today, in the fourth inning, he gave up a run but he broke through it. I thought he was excellent."
Seeing that Doubront had never pitched more than 25 innings in a season entering this year, there had been previous discussion about the possibility of shutting him down. He's now pitched 141 innings in 26 starts. And Valentine said Doubront was determined to continue to pitch the rest of the season that's seemingly lost.
"It's important for him," said Valentine. "He wants to do it. Talking to him in between starts, he was determined. He understood some of his situations that he didn't overcome in his previous games. This was a good game for him, that be broke through.
"You deal with the player, and I talked with him. He was very determined to right his ways. And I think today was a good step in that direction. If we cored some runs, we would've gotten a win."

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