"It was a struggle from start to finish.

From his flawed first inning, in which he allowed two runs on three hits, to his final pitch of the game, Jon Lester had trouble with command, which inflated his pitch count to a season-high 127 in the Red Sox' 7-3 loss to the White Sox last night before a Fenway Park crowd of 37,463.

"I stunk, there's no other way to put it,'' said Lester, who took his second loss of the season (7-2, 3.94 ERA) snapping his streak of eight undefeated starts after surrendering a season-high seven runs on eight hits. "I've got to do a better job keeping us in that game. I just flat-out didn't get it done.''"