Rookie left-hander Jon Lester goes six innings and allows just one run, and Jason Varitek hits a three-run double as Boston tops Atlanta and halts a four-game losing streak.

01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, June 17, 2006

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

ATLANTA -- Ordinarily, a team might turn to a more established, seasoned pitcher to try to snap a troublesome losing streak. The schedule, however, didn't give the Red Sox that luxury.

Instead, the Sox pinned their hopes on Jon Lester, and in his second major-league start the rookie left-hander didn't disappoint. Pitching with the poise of a veteran, Lester held the Atlanta Braves to one run over six innings and let his batterymate do the rest in a 4-1 victory last night.

Jason Varitek provided the offensive backing, driving a two-out, bases-loaded double to right that scored three runs in the third.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak and kept the Sox within a game of first-place New York in the A.L. East.

Lester became the first Red Sox rookie lefty to win a start since Casey Fossum, who beat the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 24, 2002. Lester, 22, also became the youngest Sox rookie to win a game since Juan Pena, who won on May 8, 1999, just shy of his 22nd birthday.

"It's what you dream of as a little kid," said Lester. "It hasn't really sunk in yet."

But Lester's performance registered immediately with the Red Sox, coming off a sweep in Minnesota and desperate for this kind of turnaround.

"We badly needed it," said manager Terry Francona. "He pitched himself into trouble a little bit (in the fifth), then pitched himself out. He threw his cut fastball in on righties and pitched with a lot of poise. And, obviously, he had good stuff.

Lester -- and the rest of the Red Sox -- got nice relief from Rudy Seanez (perfect seventh inning, two strikeouts), Mike Timlin (perfect eighth, one strikeout) and Jonathan Papelbon (21st save in 22 opportunities).

The only run off Lester came in the fifth, when it appeared as though he might be running out of steam.

Todd Pratt singled to kick things off and was sacrificed to second by Braves starter Tim Hudson. A single by Marcus Giles moved Pratt to third and a walk to former Sox shortstop Edgar Renteria -- booed by migrating Sox fans in attendance -- loaded the bases.

A sacrifice fly to right by Chipper Jones plated Pratt as Giles took third. The second walk in the span of three batters -- this one to Andruw Jones -- reloaded the bases, but Lester did a nice job of extricating himself from further trouble when he got Jeff Francoeur to ground out to short.

He then came back in the sixth and retired the Braves in order, leaving after 93 pitches. By contrast, he needed 102 pitches to get through 4 2/3 innings against Texas in his debut last weekend at Fenway.

His recipe for success?

"I pounded the strike zone with my fastball," explained Lester, "and had better command (than last time) with all my pitches. I got myself into that jam and got a little wild. But I made some pitches when I had to." Of course, it helped that by the third inning the Sox had themselves more runs than they had managed to accumulate in any one game in their series against the Twins.

The Sox strung together three straight singles in the second, by Trot Nixon, Varitek and Mike Lowell, and grabbed an early run off Hudson.

The Sox were right back at it against Hudson in the third with some help from the pitcher himself.

Hudson issued a leadoff walk to Coco Crisp, then got Mark Loretta to fly to center. With David Ortiz at the plate, Hudson bounced a splitter past catcher Pratt, enabling Crisp to move into scoring position.

After retiring Ortiz on another flyout to center, Hudson then began to unravel, walking Manny Ramirez and Nixon, filling the bases.

That brought up Varitek, who played his college ball down the street at Georgia Tech and who still lives in the area. Varitek jumped on a pitch from Hudson and drove it to the gap in right-center, clearing the bases.

The three RBI nearly matched Varitek's output for the month. With half of June complete, Varitek had collected just five RBI this month -- four of those coming on a grand slam June 8 at Yankee Stadium.

Outside of the second and third innings, the Sox reverted to their offensive shell. Hudson retired the side in the first, third, sixth and seventh while allowing only a leadoff single to Loretta in the fifth before retiring the next three Boston hitters in succession.

smcadam@projo.com / (401) 277-7340