SEATTLE — Local favorite Jon Lester carried a shutout into the eighth inning, struggling Jason Varitek rewarded his manager’s faith with a two-run homer and the road-weary Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0 Monday night.
Lester, who was born in nearby Tacoma and starred at that city’s Bellarmine Prep high school, allowed eight hits in 7 1-3 innings — the final one a hard one-hopper off his right shin. He left the game with a trainer and the bases loaded but did not appear injured while watching from the bench as Jonathan Papelbon got Raul Ibanez to ground into a double play.
Papelbon finished the ninth for his 29th save in 33 chances in Boston’s major league-best 11th shutout.
It was Lester’s fifth start without allowing a run this season, including his no-hitter May 19 against Kansas City.
Rookie Jed Lowrie hit a two-run single in the eighth and Manny Ramirez, the designated hitter in the absence of David Ortiz, had three singles to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. Boston won for just the third time in 13 road games to remain 1½ games behind first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East. Seattle, expecting to compete for its first postseason since 2001, lost for the ninth time in 12 games to tie its season-low of 23 games under .500.
Lester (8-3) was back in the city where he first had his sore back examined during a series in 2006, before being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He received treatments here during the winter for the rare form of the disease.
He’s back in his shutout groove, after allowing five runs to Minnesota in his last start July 8.
Lester was constantly ahead in counts and allowed three hits through six innings before Ibanez and Jose Lopez singled in the seventh. But he struck out Miguel Cairo on a looping, 76 mph pitch. He then got Jose Vidro, pinch-hitting for rookie Bryan LaHair, to lunge at a 3-1 pitch for a lazy fly out.
Lester had just three three-ball counts in the game.
The gritty Varitek was batting .114 in his last 26 games, leaving manager Terry Francona answering Monday afternoon if he would use a pinch-hitter for his mainstay.
“I won’t hit for him. We need him. I believe in him. I will always believe in him. When times are tough, you don’t waver from that,” Francona said. “If we want to get where we ultimately want to get, the faith in him will bear itself out.”
Varitek singled sharply in his first at-bat, but Jarrod Washburn kept escaping full counts to keep Boston blanked into the fifth.
Then Washburn (4-9) walked Coco Crisp and a full-count pitch to Varitek was high and on the inside corner. Boston’s captain quickly turned on it and sent it on a line just over the left-field scoreboard for his second home run in 42 games. It was his first home run in 27 career at-bats against Washburn.
The first man to greet Varitek at the top of the dugout was Francona. The manager gave him a high-five and then a pat on the shoulder.
Washburn allowed seven hits and two runs in 5 2/3 innings — the seventh time in eight starts he had allowed two earned runs or fewer. He has only two wins in that span.
Notes: Varitek has 153 home runs as a catcher, four behind Carlton
Fisk for most in Boston history. … Ortiz, out since injuring his wrist May 30, singled twice, walked, and flied out Monday for Double-A Portland. He’s still on track to return Friday. … LHP Erik Bedard, out since July 5 with shoulder tightness, was to throw for second consecutive day. But Mariners manager Jim Riggleman didn’t know when Bedard will get on a mound.
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