By Sean McAdam
CSNNE.com Red Sox InsiderFollow @sean_mcadam
CHICAGO -- No team had been a tougher opponent for Jon Lester than the Chicago White Sox.
In the last two matchups with him, the White Sox had belted him around for 15 runs over a span of 9 23 innings.
But Saturday, something changed. Lester limited the White Sox to two runs on four hits over eight innings while the Red Sox snapped a two-game losing streak by beating Chicago, 10-2.
The victory snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Red Sox against the White Sox and was just their second win in the last 13 head-to-head meetings.
The Sox took a healthy lead in the fifth with four runs on an RBI-double from Jarrod Saltalamacchia, sacrifice flies from Marco Scutaro and Dustin Pedroia and a broken-bat single from Kevin Youkilis.
Home runs from Adrian Gonzalez (two-run shot) and Kevin Youkilis (solo) helped create a five-run ninth as the Sox blew the game open.
Gonzalez's homer was his first since July 7.
Boston Red Sox
Both runs off Lester were late in the game solo homers: Paul Konerko in the seventh and Gordon Beckham in the eighth.
Lester's win was his first in exactly a month, dating back to June 30.
Dan Wheeler finished up with a scoreless ninth.
STAR OF THE GAME: Jon Lester
In his second start since coming off the DL, Lester was masterful, going eight innings while allowing just two runs on four hits.
He needed just 64 pitches through the first six innings, facing the minimum number of hitters in five of the frames. All of this against a team which had had success with Lester in the past, scoring 15 runs off him in his last two outings.
HONORABLE MENTION: Jarrod Saltalamacchia
After homering for the third time in his last seven starts Friday in the series opener, Saltalamacchia had two doubles and two RBI in Saturday's win.
Over his last eight games, Saltalamacchia is hitting .364 with 10 RBI.
GOAT OF THE GAME: Alex Rios
Rios went 0-for-3 to drop his average to .207, further enraging White Sox fans who have let him know that underachievement and oversized paychecks aren't a good combination.
Rios made things worse when he fielded a single from Marco Scutaro and lobbed a throw back in to the cutoff man as Josh Reddick managed to score all the way from first.
TURNING POINT:
Although they were already relatively comfortable with a 5-2 lead, the back-to-back homers from Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis, accounting for three more insurances runs, helped in the ninth.
BY THE NUMBERS: 6
Adrian Gonzalez, in addition to hitting his first homer since July 7, posted his sixth consecutive multi-hit game, a career-high.
QUOTE OF NOTE:
"It's always about executing, regardless of the lineup. I was able to keep the fastball down. When you're able to do that, good things happen.'' Jon Lester on beating the White Sox, against whom he had a career ERA of 5.94
Sean McAdam can be reached at smcadam@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Sean on Twitter at http:twitter.comsean_mcadam