Lester dominates Phils to prevent sweep

Jon Lester dominated the Phils in yesterday's series finale, taking the win 5-2 and avoiding a sweep for the Red Sox.

Lester and Cole Hamels were engaged in a pitcher's duel early, before Hamels had to leave the game after being smoked on his non-pitching hand by an Adrian Gonzalez line drive. X-rays were negative, but Hamels' next start is up in the air.

David Herndon relieved Hamels in the fifth, promptly allowing two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth, which would be all the support Lester would need.

Lester went seven strong, allowing no runs and just two hits, two walks and five strikeouts.

Jason Varitek hit two homers in the game for Boston, and Dustin Pedroia tacked on a solo shot.

Ryan Howard broke up a 5-0 shutout in the ninth with a two-run upper deck bomb off Bobby Jenks, which forced Terry Francona to go to his closer, Jonathan Papelbon. Papelbon picked up his 15th save of the season, striking out one in 2/3 of an inning.

The Phillies open a three-game set in Toronto this afternoon to close out Interleague Play for 2011.

Today: Kyle Kendrick (4-4 3.23) vs. Ricky Romero (7-7 2.74)
Kendrick will make his start start since June 15, when he allowed just one run over seven innings in a victory over Florida. In five starts this season, Kendrick is 2-2 and has allowed ten earned runs in 23 innings.

Romero has been on fire of late. In his last three starts, he's allowed just three runs and struck out 21. He's pitched at least seven innings in each of his last nine starts. His last outing was a complete game shutout over St. Louis on June 26.

Saturday: Roy Halladay (10-3 2.40) vs. Carlos Villanueva (5-1 3.15)
Halladay is making his first start in Toronto since being traded to the Phillies. He's coming off a complete game victory over Oakland in which he allowed just one run. Doc went 3-0 in June with a 2.00 ERA.

Villanueva doesn't strike out many batter (44 in 65.2 innings) but he's pitched well for the Jays this season. He beat the Cardinals in his last outing, allowing two runs over six innings. He was 3-1 with a 3.73 ERA in June.

Sunday: Cliff Lee (9-5 2.66) vs. Jo-Jo Reyes (3-7 4.77)
Everyone knows what kind of June Lee had. He's guaranteed to win NL player of the month. He went 5-0 with a 0.21 ERA and has thrown three consecutive complete game shutouts. His strikeouts were a little low (29 in 42 innings) but that's enabled him to keep his pitch counts lower.

Reyes allowed a season high six runs over just 3 2/3 innings against Pittsburgh in his last start. It was the fifth time this season he failed to pitch into the fourth. He went 2-3 with a 6.11 ERA in June and has lost his last two starts.