Buchholz Gives Up Run, Three Hits In Spring Debut: 'Everything Is Good'
BOSTON (CBS) - Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz made his spring debut on Tuesday, allowing one run off three hits over an inning of work against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Buchholz threw 14 of his 26 pitches for strikes, striking out one and walking one.
"First game jitters," he told reporters after the game. "The velocity is creeping back up to where it needs to be, and no problems throughout the whole thing. Just a couple pitches spinning off, and that's mechanical so it's an easy fix."
Buchholz said his fastball was clocked from 88-93 mph, and he felt like he had good command of his secondary stuff. He didn't feel any lingering issues with his neck or shoulder, which limited him to just 16 starts in 2013.
"Everything is good. No problems or stiffness from just sitting around. That's definitely a good thing," said Buchholz.
The right-hander's inning began with David Dejesus clubbing a double to right field, and after Yunel Escobar grounded out to third, Buchholz found himself in a two on, one out jam following a free pass to James Loney.
Buchholz struck out Wil Myers, but gave up an RBI single to Matt Joyce to give Tampa a 1-0 lead. Logan Forsythe followed with a single through the hole at short, but Buchholz got Sean Rodriguez to fly out to left to end the inning.
Buchholz said he's been back in a five-day routine for the last week, and is very eager to take the mound again.
"I was set on going two innings today, but having a long inning first time out it probably isn't the best time to run back out there," he said. "But I'll go back out the next five days or whenever they have me scheduled going again. I'm going to work towards getting up and getting down two or three times."
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