ATLANTA – Jon Lester lost his bid for a no-hitter in the eighth inning – a try revived by an official scorer’s reversal – but ended the longest winless streak of his career as the Chicago Cubs shut out the Atlanta Braves 4-0 on Saturday night.
A chopper down the line in the Braves’ first by Nick Markakis was originally ruled a hit. The scorer, longtime Atlanta sports writer Jack Wilkinson, changed his call in the top of the seventh and charged an error to third baseman Kris Bryant, who let the ball get under his glove.
A.J. Pierzynski, Lester’s batterymate in Boston for the first half of the 2014 season, led off the eighth with a line-drive single to right field for Atlanta’s first hit. With one out, Andrelton Simmons’ single up the middle chased Lester.
Lester (5-8) had gone 10 starts without a win. He struck out seven, walked one and hit Pierzynski with a pitch in 7 1-3 innings.
Lester pitched a no-hitter for the Red Sox in 2008 against Kansas City. Earlier this month, the lefty took a no-hit bid into the seventh against St. Louis before Jhonny Peralta broke it up with a one-out single on a hard grounder that deflected off Bryant at third base.