Illness, Minimal Run Support No Problem For Buchholz
BOSTON (CBS) -- Clay Buchholz was a little under the weather leading up to his start against the Twins on Tuesday night, but you would have never known it based on his performance.
Buchholz shut down the Twins offense for eight innings at Fenway Park, allowing just three hits while striking out eight in Boston's 1-0 win.
"I didn't feel 100 percent, but it wasn't a reason for me to skip a start. I told them I'd go out there and give them what I got, and fortunately I was able to give them eight innings," Buchholz said after the victory.
Tuesday night's performance is the latest in a string of solid starts for Buchholz, though his 3-6 win-loss record doesn't reflect such a stellar stretch (he hadn't won a game since May 10 before Tuesday night). It's now five straight starts in which Buchholz has allowed three or fewer runs, giving up just eight earned runs in his last 37 innings. The Sox righty has now pitched into the eighth inning in each of his last four starts, and with his eight shutout innings on Tuesday, saw his season ERA go from 4.33 to 3.82.
However, he is just 1-2 in his last four starts due mostly to a lack of run support. The Sox offense has scored just one run in each of his last four starts, and in seven of his 11 starts this season.
Despite that, Buchholz has been dominant at times on the mound the last three weeks.
"He's been on a real good run, and certainly kept us in ballgames given the few runs he's allowed," Boston manager John Farrell said of Buchholz. "He's doing such a good job repeating his delivery. When you look at the swing and misses he's getting with his changeup and curveball, he's on a good little run right now."
The curveball was a big part of Buchholz's plan on Tuesday night.
"I was able to use it first pitch, just a little 'get me over curve.' When I have that working, I feel like I can get back into the count or steal a strike with the first pitch," said Buchholz, who threw 21 first-pitch strikes against the Twins. "It doesn't always happen that way, but when I got it I feel like I should use it."
Buchholz retired the Twins in order four times, including his final inning of the night. He got a big assist from right fielder Rusney Castillo, who not only drove in Boston's only run in the bottom of the seventh, but made a home run-saving catch off the bat of Aaron Hicks in the top of the eighth.
"That was a scary moment there for a second," said Buchholz.
Buchholz said he would have gone the distance any other night, but in battling an illness earlier in the week, he was happy to turn the ball over to Koji Uehara in the ninth. The Boston closer picked up his 11th save of the season, closing out Buchholz's gem.
It was a much-needed win for Boston, who returned home following a 1-6 road trip through Minnesota and Texas. Principal owner John Henry spoke to the media before the game, and though he expressed confidence in the team, said it was an "unacceptable" start of the season.
Buchholz, and everyone on the roster, already knew this. David Ortiz said before the win that he was also confident the team can turn things around, and Buchholz makes it sound as though the Red Sox have reached "every game is a must-win" status roughly a third of the way into the season.
"Every game is big from here on out. We haven't played up to the caliber of players we have on this team and the bar is set pretty high for this club. There is no one in this clubhouse that doesn't expect that or would want it any other way," he said. "We're going to try and go onto a roll; hopefully we can get back on track."
If Buchholz keeps living up to that "ace" moniker, and the offense finally wakes up, the Sox could very well be back on track soon.
