The Red Sox were finishing up their west coast trip last night and hoped to not be swept by the Seattle Mariners. Clay Buchholz was activated from the DL and hoping to show that the struggles of earlier this season were behind him. Clay found trouble in the 2nd, but then settled in and had himself a positive first outing. Buchholz also had the support of the Sox offense keeping him in front and in line for the win. The game got tight in the 9th, but Koji was able to wiggle through and get the win.
The Sox bats gave Clay a lead before he took the mound when David Ortiz hit a 2 run HR in the 1st inning. Clay had a quick 1-2-3 first inning, but didn’t have the same luck in the 2nd inning. Clay gave up a solo HR to Seager and then a 2 run HR to Zunino to suddenly have the Mariners in front 3-2. It looked at that point that Clay should have stayed on the DL, however Buchholz was able to settle in and have himself a pretty decent outing. The Sox offense gave Clay the lead back in the 3rd when Nava hit a game tying RBI single and then Papi put the Sox ahead with an RBI single of his own. Sox 4-3.
In the 5th inning the Sox had the bases loaded with no outs, but weren’t able to have a big inning. Ortiz hit into a double play, but Brock Holt was still able to score from 3rd. Sox 5-3. Buchholz pitched through the 7th inning and his pitch count was really low, so he came back out for the 8th inning. Clay had his last hiccup of the night when he gave up a solo HR to Miller to now have the Mariners within a run. Romero hit what looked like it would drop in for a hit, but Jonny Gomes flew in and made a great catch for the first out of the inning. Farrell had seen enough and went to get Clay Buchholz. Clay’s pitching line for the night was 76 pitches, 7.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 0 BB and 2 Ks. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but it sure was a step in the right direction for the righty.
Andrew Miller was in the game and got 2 Ks to end the inning. Miller has continued to look pretty impressive out of the pen in 2014. Koji Uehara took the mound in the 9th and struggled more than we are used to seeing. Koji got an out, but then gave up a single and a walk to have a runner in scoring position and only one out. Koji K’ed Zunino and then Ackley hit a liner to 1st base and Brock Holt made a great play on the ball and threw it to Koji who just barely beat the runner to first base to notch down the save and the win. Phew, the team needed that.
Red Sox 5 Mariners 4 BOXSCORE
WP: Buchholz (3-4) LP: Iwakuma (5-4) SV: Uehara (16)
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