Clay Buchholz took the mound for the Sox and while the offense was still missing in action, Clay did just what the team needed from him and walked away with the win.
Clay Buchholz started the game the same way Beckett did the night before by giving up a leadoff triple to Jose Reyes. However, Clay did what most of us thought was the impossible and struck out the next three batters to retire the side and not allow Reyes to score. Buchholz and Buehrle went toe to toe for most of the game. It truly was a pitchers duel. Clay kept putting up zero after zero on the scoreboard. His only real error was a solo HR to Logan Morrison in the 7th inning. Clay then tagged Coghlan out when he grounded back to the mound and ended up taking a tumble. Luckily, he was ok and finished out the inning. Clay’s line for the night was 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 Ks. In Buchholz’s last 4 starts, his ERA is a fantastic 1.45.
The offense had trouble getting anything going once again. I’ll give them a little slack since they were up against a really good pitcher in Mark Buehrle. The bats weren’t able to crack the scoreboard until the 7th inning. Will Middlebrooks hit a single and was brought home with an RBI double from Kelly Shoppach. Sox 1-0. The Sox scored their 2nd run when Mike Aviles hit a single to plate Shoppach. Sox 2-0. Even after Buch gave up the solo HR, the Sox were still clinging to a 2-1 lead.
The rest would be up to the bullpen. Padilla came out and pitched the 8th. With 2 outs, Padilla gave up 2 singles and had us all on pins and needles. Padilla was facing the Marlins’ best hitter Giancarlo Stanton. Padilla got Stanton to K and was out of the inning. Phew. The Sox were on to the 9th and had Alfredo Aceves on the mound. Aceves gave up a single to LoMo, but then retired the next 3 batters in order and locked down the win.
The Red Sox win. The water is dirty. It’s about time.
Red Sox 2 Marlins 1 BOXSCORE
WP: Buchholz (7-2) LP: Buehrle (5-7) SV: Aceves (15)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
