Buchholz finally gets win after another strong start

Share

BOSTON - There was no margin for error over Clay Buchholz's last three starts.

The same could be said for Tuesday's start against the Minnesota Twins, too.

The difference this time around is that Buchholz didn't leave any margin for error.

Buchholz had received exactly one run of support in each of his last three starts and six of his last eight going into Tuesday night. And the Sox offense was up to its old tricks - just one run again - on this night.

But Buchholz took matters into his own hands, blanking the Twins in the eight innings he pitched for his first win at Fenway Park this season.

The outing was the longest scoreless start by a Red Sox pitcher since Buchholz did it against the Twins on Aug. 31, 2014 when he pitched a complete game.

For Buchholz, a performance like Tuesday night's has been more the norm these days. He has a 1.47 ERA over his last four starts, allowing two earned runs or fewer in each of those four outings. He's also gone at least six innings in each of his last six starts, and has pitched at least 7.1 innings in each of his last four. His ERA on the year is now 3.82.

"He's been on a real good run and certainly kept us in ballgames given the few runs he's allowed over I think the last four starts," John Farrell said. "It's been very strong for him and he's doing such a good job repeating his delivery. When you see the number of swing and miss that he's getting with his change up and his curveball, he's on a good little run right now."

This was the second straight game in which Buchholz has faced the Twins. He pitched 7.1 innings of two-run ball last week, but that was two runs too many in the Sox 2-1 loss. Buchholz was satisfied with the fact he was able to be so effective against the same batters just one week later.

"Yeah. Given that was the last team that I faced, it's usually tough to go back out your next start," Buchholz said, "so I tried to work on some things in-between to get my pitches where I could throw each one of them. Mix them up because this is a team that swings the bat, probably the best team in baseball in the month of May. Yeah, everything was good."

Buchholz was at just 92 pitches when he finished the eighth inning, but Farrell wasn't tempted to put him out there for the ninth inning. Farrell revealed after the game that Buchholz was dealing with some sickness, coupled with the fact that he was about to face a couple players who had success against him earlier in the night.

"I mean if it was any other day where I felt good and it was how the game was going, yeah I wouldn't have let him take me out of the game," Buchholz said. "I'd rather give Koji a clean inning to work with rather than having to pull me with a runner on second inning and deal with all that."

Contact Us