The Red Sox had dropped the first two games of the series with the White Sox and with Clay Buchholz on the mound, they needed him to bring the team to a win before they headed back home. Clay didn't have his best stuff all night long, but even so he was able to limit any damage and have his team in line for a win. Clay was helped through his outing by Salty throwing out not one, but two runners trying to steal second.
The bats gave Buchholz a lead before he even took the mound. With two runners on, Papi hit a blooping single to score both Gomes and Pedey. Red Sox 2-0. The Red Sox were looking for more, but Santiago got out of the inning without any more damage. Buchholz didn't look great when he took the mound and he had a habit of almost always letting the leadoff batter on base, but he also tended to not let them score. Buch allowed a run to score in the 3rd when he gave up an RBI groundout to Rios. Red Sox 2-1. The Red Sox bats weren't able to pad Clay's lead while he was on the mound, but that was enough for him. Buch pitched 7 strong innings and his line for the night was 113 pitches, 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB and 4 Ks. It wasn't his best outing, but it sure was good enough.
The Red Sox bats got back to work in the 8th. Santiago was making a spot start for Sale who was out with injury and he was only on 3 days rest, however the bats wouldn't be able to do much damage until he was out of the game. Santiago did exactly what the White Sox needed him to. In the 8th, the Red Sox had the bases loaded and only one out. Middlebrooks hit a sac fly and then Napoli scored on a passed ball to have the Red Sox leading 4-1. Uehara pitched his usual 1-2-3 8th inning and then went in for one of his usual epic high five sessions in the dugout. In the 9th the Red Sox added on when Nava hit a 2 run RBI single. Red Sox 6-1. Andrew Bailey made his first appearance since coming off the DL and while it wasn't a save situation, it was nice to see him get some work. Bailey didn't have a clean inning as he gave up a HR to Paul Konerko, but that would be all the damage.
Sox win 6-2 and head home to face their old friend Terry Francona.
Red Sox 6 White Sox 2 BOXSCORE
WP: Buchholz (7-0) LP: Santiago (1-3)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
