Buchholz fastball was crisp and his breaking ball was almost unhittable on the night. He buckled the knees of Bautista — who he struck out three times, Encarnacion and Rasmus as he struck out the side in the sixth inning
David Ortiz hit an early home run to get the offense going, but it was Daniel Nava and Adrian Gonzalez that really kept the rallies going and got the offense out to that five-run lead that they ultimately took back to the clubhouse.
Nava went 4-for-5 with three doubles and Gonzo went 3-for-5 with a double and a pair of RBIs to give him 29 on the year.
Mid 9th Inning, Red Sox 7-2: The Red Sox got a single from Nick Punto in the ninth, but a ground out and a pair of strikeouts kept them from building anymore of a elad than their already commanding 7-2.
Also, Johan Santana threw a no hitter for the Mets, read more here!
End 8th Inning, Red Sox 7-2: Clay just keeps wearing down this Blue Jays offense. They feel like they've finally got him on the ropes and once again finds his way out of the jam.
But the bigger story: Johan Santana throws the first ever no-hitter in Mets history. Not only did he throw the no-hitter — granted he walked five batters — but he went down 3-0 on the last batter of the game and battled back to strike him out.
Bravo! Great performance, fantastic redemption story after all the injury trouble he's faced.
Mid 8th Inning, Red Sox 7-2: A Will Middlebrooks single went for naught in the eighth, as Robert Coello shut down the Sox with a pretty clean showing.
Buchholz will be given a short leash in the bottom half of the eighth, as Scott Achison and Andrew Miller are up and anxiously awaiting for the call, in the bullpen.
9:30 p.m.: Johan Santana is but three outs away from throwing the first no-hitter in New York Mets history.
Santana has thrown 122 pitches, which is a little dicey for a guy with some prior arm problems. But for the chance at history, I think Johan and the Mets will take a risk.
End 7th Inning, Red Sox 7-2: Clay Buchholz was still dominant with crisp command in the seventh, but first baseman David Cooper slammed a hanging breaking ball over the the center field wall for his first season of the season.
Buchholz looked a little shaky after the blast, but still settled down to close out the inning with his seventh strike out of the night.
Buchholz may be done, after seven innings and 97 pitches, but a great effort and potentially his best start of the season.
Mid 7th Inning, Red Sox 7-1: Scotty Pods started a rally!
Podsednik used his speed on a high chopped to reach without even a throw to first and Ryan Sweeney scores after blasting a leadoff double to center.
Then the center fielder got on his horse and busted from first all the way around to home on a Daniel Nava double to right field. Nava's now 3-for-4 on the night and just continues to crush AL East pitching.
Nava scored on an Adrian Gonzalez single, for the second time on the night. Gonzo also 3-for-4 on the night, for his fifth three-hit game of the season. Ortiz then blasted a single to right field, scoring Gonzalez to give the Sox a 7-1 lead.
One run was charged to Henderson Alavarez, meaning the starter's line looks a little something like this: 6 1/3 innings, eight hits, four runs, four earned runs, one walk, two striekouts
End 6th Inning, Red Sox 3-1: Clay Buchholz looks like a man on a mission on friday.
He just sat down all three Blue Jays in succession, leaving them looking at a nasty breaking ball and lusting a lot more than what they were able to do in that at bat.
Jose Bautista (0-for-3) went down by way of the K for the third time in the game, followed by Encarnacion and Rasmus giving watch to the knee-buckling curveball.
Mid 6th Inning, Red Sox 3-1: Henderson Alvarez looked to be ready for a baloon type inning. But the Red Sox were unable to capitalize on having the bases loaded with none out in the sixth and only scored a single run.
Daniel Nava led the charge for Boston once again in the sixth. a leadoff single started a rally for the Sox and gave Alvarez some serious trouble.
Adrian Gonzalez' second double of the night sent Nava on to third and had a pair on for Ortiz. But Big Papi walked and Saltalamacchia ultimately drove in Nava to boost the lead to 3-1.
Alvarez looks like he might be struggling to plant with his left foot and that's what could be causing his inconsistency.
End 5th Inning, Red Sox 2-1: A leadoff double looked to have the Jays ready to tie things up, but a little interruption of the flow by a streaker may have cut the momentum.
Buchholz took advantage of the breather, regrouping to strike out Kelly Johnson and then forcing Escobar — who hit the homer in the third — into a double play.
Clay continues to cruise in this one, throwing just 66 pitches through five innings thus far.
8:31 p.m.: A fan run come onto the field, holding things up for both teams.
This isn't the first time that a streaker has interrupted a Red Sox-Blue Jays game this year, click here to see the "Yolo" fool that interupted the game last time Boston was in town.
Mid 5th Inning, Red Sox 2-1: After taking a liner off the leg, Alvarez regrouped and got three quick outs to close out the Red Sox attempted rally in the fifth inning.
Aviles was thrown out as part of Punto grounding into 4-6-3 double play. Then Podsednik followed suit with a ground out of his own to end the inning.
It seems that nothing can stop Alvarez on the mound so far on Friday. All Boston fans can hope is that the current 2-1 lead holds and Buchholz is able to continue tossing at the same high level.
8:22 p.m.: Scary moment for the blue Jays, here. Henderson Alvarez took a Mike Aviles liner off the left leg and was left limping around the mound.
He sure didn't look able to put too much pressure on that foot, he could be dealing with some serious swelling, in addition to the pain.
He'll likely took some practice tosses and appears confident that he can continue on.
The Red Sox can certainly relate to this circumstance, as Aaron cook suffered a leg injury in his first start of the season earlier in the year and got lit up by the Orioles in the inning following the injury.
End 4th Inning, Red Sox 2-1: Buchholz looks like he could take this outing the distance. With some definite help from his defense — although not early on, Buchholz has thrown just 53 pitches and allowed only a pair of Jays to reach base.
Nick Punto showed off his keen defensive mind in the inning, fielding a high hop and turning to throw out the lead runner at second base. Punto may not be the most consistent player at the plate — hitting just .120 on the year, but he's a very intelligent player and showed it off in the field on Friday.
Rasmus reached for the second time on the night, roping a single to right field this time after getting hit by a pitch in the second inning. But the hit was for naught, as the outfielder was quickly thrown out at second by Punto a few pitches later.
Mid 4th Inning, Red Sox 2-1: Alvarez turned in a solid bounce back inning in the fourth, shutting down Saltalamacchia, Middlebrooks and Sweeney on consecutive ground outs.
Although he's been hit up for a pair of runs already, Alvarez looks stellar overall on the night. His offspeed pitches are keeping the Red Sox at bay, but it seems that he makes one mistake with his pitches each inning.
This could turn into quite the pitcher's duel at this rate.
End 3rd Inning, Red Sox 2-1: After a pair of quick outs, the Blue Jays finally got to Buchholz.
Yunel Escobar turned on a Buchholz fastball and lifted it deep to left field to put the Jays on the board and cut the Red Sox lead in half.
While Buchholz looks strong on the whole, he's continuing to leave pitches up in the zone and out over the plate. It was just a matter of time before a hitter like Escobar took him deep. To be honest, he's pretty lucky that Bautista — who's struck out twice in two at-bats — hasn't lit him up for his 13th longball of the year.
Mid 3rd Inning, Red Sox 2-0: With two outs in the books, it looked like Boston was ready to get their gloves and jet back out into the field.
But Daniel Nava turned on a pitch from Alvarez and was able to get into scoring position with a double to deep right center field.
Next up, Adrian Gonzalez continued his hot streak at the plate with an RBI double to shallow center. A hustling Nava rounded third with a head of steam and was able to slide into home plate just before the tag from J.P. Arrencebia.
Nava's hustle and intensity are really the difference for the Sox on Friday night.
End 2nd Inning, Red Sox 1-0: Buchholz finds his way out of another early jam.
After hitting Colby Rasmus to start the second, Buchholz locked in on the strike zone for the next three batters. Brett Lawrie, J.P. Arencebia and David Cooper all popped out and Clay walked off the mound, making quick work of the Jays in the inning.
Buchholz still has yet to give up a hit on the evening and has only thrown 28 pitches thus far in this one.
Mid 2nd Inning, Red Sox 1-0: David Ortiz' bomb to left center field has Boston on top early on Friday night.
The weekend is starting off just the way that Bobby Valentine and Red Sox had hoped — well, they could have done without a pair of errors in the first.
But if Buchholz has any semblance of the stuff he showed in the first, then the Blue Jays hitters could be in for a long and arduous night at the dish.
7:30 p.m, Red Sox 1-0: David Ortiz just unloaded on an Alvarez fastball, sending the shot deep over the center field wall in the Rogers Center.
The homer give the Sox an early 1-0 lead and could be enough for Buchholz to continue settling into his groove on the rubber,
End 1st Inning, 0-0: Clay Buchholz got out of a jam in the first inning, after two errors nearly cost him
The Red Sox allowed the first two batters of the game to reach base, giving the Blue Jays an early threat to score. But Buchholz settled down, inducing a 6-4-3 double play and getting Boston out of the inning unscathed.
Buchholz looks to have solid command of his fastball and is working the breaking ball in very nicely in the early going. If the Red Sox fielders can avoid any more errors, then he could be in for a solid outing once again.
Mid 1st Inning, 0-0: Henderson Alvarez was on point with his pitching in the top half of the first.
Alvarez sat down the Red Sox hitters 1-2-3 to kickoff the game, getting Scott Podsednik to fly out to left, followed by a Daniel Nava groundout and punching out Adrian Gonzalez on strikes.
The sequence was fairly impressive and the talented pitcher already looks to be settling into a groove on the mound, which could mean trouble for the Red Sox.
7 p.m.: The Blue Jays have taken the field and Henderson Alvarez is warming up in preparation for a potent Red Sox lineup.
Scott Podsednik will be leading things off for Boston, in just his eighth game with the club.
The Rogers Center does look a big empty for first pitch, but I guess a 26-25 Red Sox team doesn't quite draw the same crowd as in years past.
Oh well, play ball!
6 p.m.: Kevin Youkilis is getting the night off up in Toronto, and Will Middlebrooks will be taking his place in the lineup.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia has also bolted up the Boston order, as the catcher is slated to hit fifth for the first time since joining the Red Sox.
Check out the complete lineups for both teams, below.
Red Sox (26-25)
Scott Podsednik, CF
Daniel Nava, LF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Will Middlebrooks, 3B
Ryan Sweeney, RF
Mike Aviles, SS
Nick Punto, 2B
Clay Buchholz, RHP (4-2, 7.19)
BLUE JAYS (27-24)
Kelly Johnson, 2B
Yunel Escobar, SS
Jose Bautista, RF
Edwin Encarnacion, DH
Colby Rasmus, CF
Brett Lawrie, 3B
J.P. Arencibia, C
Cooper, 1B
Davis, LF
Henderson Alvarez, RHP (3-4, 3.56)
8 a.m. ET: The Red Sox (26-25) are heading north of the border for another showdown in Toronto against the Blue Jays (27-24). In the process, the team will look to leapfrog their American League East rivals and continue their climb up the charts. In order to do so, Clay Buchholz is hoping to maintain his pace from his previous start.
In his last outing, Buchholz had one of his most effective starts of the season, giving up just two runs over seven innings with six strikeouts against the Rays. For his career in Toronto, the right-hander is 5-2 at Rogers Centre — one of the best hitter's parks in baseball — with a 1.62 ERA in seven career starts. He'll go up against starter Henderson Alvarez, who was ejected in his last start for throwing inside to Texas' Ian Kinsler. Henderson, however, only allowed one run through six innings against the Sox in April.
For analysis, follow NESN.com's live blog. Tune into NESN's pregame show at 6 p.m. First pitch is slated for 7:07 p.m.
