Clay Buchholz took the mound on Friday night with everything seemingly working against him. He didn’t get into town until 7am because of the late night NYY game. He’s been struggling with back issues which has made his last few performances less than what you would call good. And…he had a blister on his finger on his pitching hand. Fantastic, eh?
Photo Credit: AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette
However all of that would not matter much since Clay came out and seemed in control of his game and what he wanted to do. He pitched 7 strong innings only allowing one run to score. He had his curveball working for him and great command of the fastball. He hadn’t looked like Clay Buchholz for the past couple of times of the mound, but he definitely did last night. Buch’s pitching line was 7 IP, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 Ks. Buchholz was followed by two innings of scoreless relief from Bard and Papelbon.
The offense also had Buchholz’ back and got the Sox on the scoreboard early in the game. Salty was back in the lineup from his bout with the flu and immediately got a single to start the 3rd inning. Ellsbury got a ground rule double and then Pedey and Gonzo both got RBIs to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. Pedroia got 3 hits in his return to the lineup from his knee injury scare. The Sox added 2 more runs in the 5th with RBIs from Gonzo and Youk. Gonzo got one more RBI in the top of the 9th to give the Sox a 5-1 lead and steal Pap of a save opportunity. Pap still shut the door with a 1-2-3 inning. Both Ellsbury and Pedroia had 3 hits on the night.
Red Sox 5 Blue Jays 1 BOXSCORE
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