"For Jon Lester, the process of elimination was pretty simple last night. He couldn't command his fastball. He couldn't command his changeup. He couldn't command his breaking ball.

That left one pitch — his cutter.

When thrown in concert with everything else, it's devastating. But left on its own, it feels pretty lonely.

Such was the case last night against the White Sox, who dealt Lester his first loss since April 12 in a 7-3 victory.

"I just really didn't have a feel for anything," Lester said. "I stunk. There's no other way to put it."

Lester's line was atypical. He went 52/3 innings, allowing eight hits and seven runs. He struck out four, walked four, and labored through 127 pitches, the most he has thrown other than the 130 he tossed while no-hitting the Royals in 2008.

Lester labored in part because he was missing most of his arsenal.

"(The cutter) was the only pitch I could throw for strikes," he said. "I had to throw it. I had no command of my fastball. I threw a couple decent changeups, and I think I threw one curveball for a strike just because I got a checked swing at it. It was really the only pitch I could command, so we had to use it."

Though Lester was coming off six shutout innings against the Indians in Cleveland, he's actually in the midst of a string of subpar outings, at least by his exalted standards."