The Red Sox were coming off Golf Gate 2012 and a back breaking loss. Clay Buchholz and his 9.09 ERA was heading to the mound. There was a lot of grumbling going on in Red Sox Nation. Clay hoped to show his team and the fans the type of pitcher he could be.
Photo Credit: Jim Rogash/Getty Images
All in all, Clay had his best outing to date. Clay gave up a single run in the 1st and then seemed to roll after that. He seemed to have pretty good command and was locating his pitches. Clay was throwing scoreless inning after inning until he hit the 7th. Clay got one out and then seemed to hit a wall. Clay gave up singles to Damon and Kipnis and then walked Cabrera to have the bases loaded. Clay had thrown 111 pitches and it looked like he was done. Rich Hill came in after Buchholz and unfortunately was not able to record an out. Hill walked in a run and then another run scored on a fielding error from Will Middlebrooks. Two out of three of Clay’s inherited runners scored. Bobby V came out and got Hill and replaced him with Andrew Miller. I’ll be honest that with the bases loaded I was a wee bit terrified. Miller is known for walking everyone and their brother. Miller got Choo to fly out and Nava made a great throw in to make sure the runner did not even try to score from 3rd. Then Miller gave up a single to Brantley to score Clay’s final runner. The bases were still loaded and Kotchman was at the plate. Miller got Kotch to ground out to end the inning. Phew. That was scary for a wee bit. Clay’s line for the night was 111 pitches, 6.1 IP, 8 H, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BBs and 0 Ks. I think the media stats said that this is the first time Buchholz hasn’t had a K in an outing in 4 years. Whatever it was, it worked. That outing is definitely something for Clay to build on.
The offense got Buchholz’s back in the game as well. Middlebrooks hit an RBI double in the 1st inning to score Pedey and Papi. Sox 2-1. Pedey hit an RBI double of his own in the 2nd to score Punto and Sweeney. Sox 4-1. In the 5th, Cody Ross hit an RBI double followed by a Sweeney RBI single and a Pedroia sac fly. Sox 7-1.
After the 7th and some woes from Clay and the bullpen, the Sox were clinging to a 7-4 lead. Franklin Morales came out in the 8th. He got an out, but also gave up a single and a walk. Padilla came out and finished off the 8th inning with 2 quick outs. Aceves was on the mound for the 9th and decided to make a 3 run save a little bit dramatic. Aceves walked Santana and with one out gave up a single to Brantley to score Santana. Sox 7-5. Aceves got the final two outs though and the Red Sox won!
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Charles Krupa
Red Sox 7 Indians 5 BOXSCORE
WP: Buchholz (4-1) LP: Jimenez (3-3) SV: Aceves (6)
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