Washington Nationals pitcher Jon Lester had his best outing of the season Monday against the Miami Marlins. Lester threw seven scoreless innings to collect his eight win of the season. But his pitching wasn’t his best highlight of the night. It was his bat.
The 37-year old crushed a two-run home run in the fifth inning, traveling 419 feet over the center field wall at Nats Park.
The blast extended the Nationals lead to 12-0 in route to an 18-1 win. It also put Lester in rare company. According to ESPN Stats and Info, Lester became the older pitcher to hit a home run since Bartolo Colon in 2016 at 42 years of age.
The home run is his fourth of his career. Lester hit in each season from 2017 through 2019. With the universal DH during the pandemic shortened 2020 season, Lester didn’t get a chance to extend his streak. Now, he is back at it.
What’s probably more important to Nationals fans, is Lester was solid on the mound. He allowed six hit but did not walk a batter, striking out seven. The seven innings was his longest outing of the season. It was just his second scoreless start of the year. Coincidentally, his first was also against the Marlins — five innings on Apr. 30.
