The Red Sox faced off against the Blue Jays again yesterday afternoon with Clay Buchholz on the mound vs. Brandon Morrow for the Jays. Buchholz struggled out of the gate, but the bats would have his back and he ended up being able to pitch through the 7th inning. It was a bizarre game, but the Sox were able to hold on and just barely get a win against the Jays.
Clay Buchholz has struggled out of the gate this season and his first inning of the game yesterday did nothing to calm the nerves of those in Red Sox Nation. Buch gave up 3 runs in the inning and looked like this would be another short stint on the mound. Buchholz gave up an RBI single to Bautista, Cabrera scored on a wild pitch and then an RBI single to Navarro. Sox 0-3. On the other side Brandon Morrow wasn’t doing much better. He was unable to find the strike zone and kept issuing walk after walk. Morrow survived the first two innings without any damage as the Sox hit into inning ending double plays, but the 3rd inning would be his and the Blue Jays undoing. Morrow not only walked the bases loaded, but then walked in a run to put the Sox on the board. Morrow was out of the game and Chad Jenkins came to the mound in relief. Jenkins didn’t give up walks, but he did give up homers. AJ Pierzynski hit a grand slam and then Will Middlebrooks hit a HR of his own to have the Sox suddenly leading 6-3.
With the lead Clay Buchholz suddenly had new life. He really settled in from the 4th inning on and started to remind us of that pitcher we knew of season’s past. The Sox bats even gave him another run of support in the 5th when Grady Sizemore hit an RBI double to score Mike Carp. Sox 7-3. Buchholz pitched through the 7th inning and didn’t give up any runs after the 1st inning. Buch’s line for the night was 105 pitches, 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 BB and 3 Ks. It wasn’t a spectacular outing, but he was able to stay in the game and keep the Sox ahead once they got the lead.
Junichi Tazawa took the mound in the 8th inning and while he hadn’t given up a run yet in 2014, the Blue Jays would continue to be the team that is his nemesis. Taz gave up a solo HR to Francisco and then an RBI single to Encarnacion to have the Sox leading 7-5. Taz was out of the game and Chris Capuano was in to try to finish the inning. Capuano got an out, but then issued a walk that forced Farell to go with Koji Uehara for the 4 out save. Koji got the third out and we were on to the 9th. Koji showed some signs of being human by giving up a leadoff HR to Jose Bautista to have the Sox clinging to a 7-6 lead. Koji would work his magic and get out of the inning with the save and the win, even if he did have us biting our nails for a little bit.
Red Sox 7 Blue Jays 6 BOXSCORE
WP: Buchholz (1-2) LP: Morrow (1-2) SV: Uehara (5)
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