Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Jon Lester was masterful in his team's 8-1 World Series Game 1 defeat of the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday night, but a pitching prospect in the Cardinals organization claims that the southpaw may have had some help in dominating the St. Louis lineup--in the form of Vaseline.
Cardinals pitching prospect Tyler Melling took a photo with his phone of the game on his TV set as he watched from home and noted that Lester appeared to have some sort of greenish substance on his glove that he may have been using while pitching, which would be a breach of Major League Baseball's rules. The prospect then wrote, "Jon Lester using a little Vaseline in the glove tonight?" while sharing the picture with his Twitter followers.
Melling, 25, is a left-hander that pitched in the Cardinals organization in 2013.
Lester tossed 7.2 scoreless innings while only allowing the Cards to muster up five hits against him and a walk while he struck out eight of them, but Melling insists that he may have had some help:
Jon Lester using a little Vaseline inside the glove tonight? pic.twitter.com/IyQn2iqg5f
— Tyler Melling (@TylerMelling) October 24, 2013
Whether or not there was Vaseline or another substance helping Lester, it was the sloppy Cardinal's defense that helped Boston cruise to a Game 1 victory at Fenway Park as the team committed three errors in the game and Pete Kozma had a rough defensive outing.
Mike Napoli and David Ortiz took advantage, with Napoli hitting a first inning three-RBI double and David Ortiz coming through with a two-run homer in the seventh inning, and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second that would have been a grand slam had Carlos Beltran not reached over the wall and robbed him before leaving the game with a rib injury he sustained on the play.
The Cardinals also accused Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers of using pine tar and scuffing the baseball in their World Series matchup back in 2006, which St. Louis eventually won.
This marks the second time this season that the Red Sox were accused of doctoring the ball as TV analyst Dirk Hayhurst claimed he spotted Clay Buchholz "loading up on something on his glove," back in May.
Whether or not there is cheating or a conspiracy going on, the reality is St. Louis will look to claw its way out of a 1-0 series hole by trying to nod up the series with the Red Sox Thursday night at Fenway Park before the series shifts back to St. Louis.
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