Just what the manager ordered by Jared Carrabis
Buchholz saves reeling bullpen, goes 8 strong


From one extreme, to the other; the Red Sox and Blue Jays give us a slugfest one night, and a pitcher's duel the other.

The Red Sox came into Tuesday night's contest feeling a little indifferent. Optimistic because Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz's numbers against at the Rogers Centre were great (2-0, 1.54 ERA), but if the right-hander faltered, it would have been a nightmare situation.

The Boston bullpen has been absolutely taxed in the previous five games entering Tuesday night, thus forcing the Red Sox' hand to call up Fabio Castro and send down Scott Atchison.

Buchholz was coming off a start in which he set a career high in strikeouts with ten, but got a tough-luck loss after a sloppy seventh inning and zero run support. In fact, Buchholz entered his Tuesday night start as the only starter on the Red Sox staff with an ERA under 5.

After putting up 12 runs and taking a loss the night before, the Blue Jays didn't waste any time in getting on the scoreboard. An RBI double by the hot-hitting Vernon Wells in the bottom of the first inning didn't rattle Buchholz one bit.

The Red Sox' bats answered right back in the top of the second. Kevin Youkilis and JD Drew opened the frame with back-to-back strikeouts, but David Ortiz worked a nine-pitch walk to allow the inning to continue.

Fresh off a three-hit night on Monday, Adrian Beltre knocked a base hit into center to put to men on for Jeremy Hermida. With the count full, Hermida shot a cutter to the opposite field, bringing Ortiz around from second base to tie the score at one.

Jays starter Shaun Marcum matched Buchholz inning-for-inning through the seventh frame, as neither hurler allowed another run to score. After seven innings, Marcum gave way to Scott Downs.

With one out, Dustin Pedroia knocked his second hit of the night into center field to collect his eighth multi-hit game of the season. Victor Martinez followed suit by shooting a base hit through the right side to put two men aboard.

A sacrifice fly by Youkilis and a walk issued to Drew loaded the bases for Ortiz. Big Papi made his stroll out to home plate, only to be called back to the bench in favor of pinch hitter, Mike Lowell. With Terry Francona making his switch, Cito Gaston then made his by calling in right-handed reliever, Kevin Gregg.

Gregg went on to walk Lowell on four straight pitches out of the strike zone, giving the Red Sox a 2-1 lead.

With Jonathan Papelbon and Daniel Bard deemed unavailable, Francona elected to go with Ramon Ramirez in the ninth. Ramirez retired the first two batters that he faced to bring Travis Snider to the plate. With one strike already, Snider swung so hard that his bat came flying out of his hands and into the crowd. Ram-Ram would finish him off by getting the right fielder to ground back to him for the final out.

Final score: Red Sox 2, Blue Jays 1
WP: Clay Buchholz (2-2)
LP: Scott Downs (0-3)
SV: Ramon Ramirez (1)

Game notes: For the Red Sox, it was the sixth consecutive game in which they won by just one run. Tuesday's win was the fourth time in his career that Clay Buchholz pitched eight innings or more. He set another career high with 117 pitches. His previous career high (115 pitches) came on the night of his no-hitter on September 1, 2007.

Tweet(s) of the night:

This one comes via Jordan Bastian, who covers the Blue Jays for MLB.com:

@MLBastian: Snider grounds out to the pitcher. The bat he threw into the stands a few pitchers ago went farther.

Another good one from MSGiro:

@MSGiro: #RedSox your new goal is to win by more than one run. Try it. You might like it.

Wednesday's pitching match-up:

Jon Lester will look to get his season on the right track, as his 0-2 record and 6.23 do not reflect the pitcher that we all know he is. He has pitched well against the Blue Jays in his career, judging by looking at his 3.03 ERA. Brett Cecil will toe the rubber for the Jays, who is 0-2 with a colossal ERA of 12.00 against the Red Sox.

-Jared Carrabis

To order Jared's debut book, One Fan's Story: If This Hat Could Talk, click HERE!





Published on April 27, 2010

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