SARASOTA, Fla. – Jon Lester got into a major league spring training game for the first time this year, and his pitching line looked a bit better than he felt.
Lester allowed one run and a hit in four innings Sunday as the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-1.
His two previous appearances this year were two innings in a 25-0 win over Northeastern and 2 2/3 innings in a “B” game against Minnesota.
“About halfway through the second, I finally got into a little bit of a rhythm,” Lester said. “We had a hard time kind of figuring out where the plate was. We were just missing on a lot of pitches.”
Lester, 14-0 against Baltimore during the regular season, walked four and struck out two. The only hit he gave up was an RBI single to Adam Jones in the first.
Five pitchers combined on a three-hitter. Aaron Cook, who signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox after 10 years with Colorado, pitched a hitless sixth and seventh innings in his first appearance of spring training. He walked two and struck out one.
Dustin Pedroia had two hits and two RBI.
• Red Sox shortstop Julio Iglesias is out with a right groin injury.
ROYALS: Reliever Jonathan Broxton tested his surgically repaired right elbow in a ‘B’ game against the Texas Rangers, allowing three of the five batters he faced to reach base in his first outing since May.
Broxton said his elbow felt fine and sees no reason he wouldn’t be able to be ready for the Royals’ April 6 opener.
INDIANS: First baseman Casey Kotchman did not play Sunday because of tightness in his lower back.
MARLINS: Outfielder Giancarlo Stanton left Sunday’s game after being hit by a pitch in the left wrist. X-rays were negative, and his status is day to day.
CUBS: Chicago and Cuban left-hander Gerardo Concepcion agreed to a five-year major league contract.
Concepcion, 20, earned Cuban National Series Rookie of the Year honors last season after going 10-3 with a 3.36 ERA in 21 games.
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