BOSTON — Thursday night’s loss represented more of the same for the Red Sox: a weak offensive effort that overshadowed a very strong outing by a Boston starting pitcher.
Clay Buchholz was that pitcher Thursday, and after an inauspicious start, he kept the Texas Rangers in check for the bulk of his 7 1/3 innings of work.
The right-hander allowed two runs in the first inning (one of which was the result of a Xander Bogaerts error on a failed double play bid) but just one the rest of the way that came via a Mitch Moreland solo home run in the top of the fourth.
“I felt like I threw the ball well,” Buchholz said after the game, which the Rangers went on to win 3-1. “In the first inning, (Bogaerts) trying to turn a double play and didn’t get a handle on the ball. That guy (Delino DeShields) is pretty quick, so he hustled around third and scored. But other than that, it was the solo home run, and if you’re going to give up home runs, a solo home run’s the way to go.”
Buchholz said he was surprised Moreland’s homer, which landed in the Monster seats in left-center field, had enough zip behind it to leave the yard.
“I thought it was going to be off the wall for sure, and it kept going,” he said. “Strong man. But overall, I felt like I threw the ball pretty well.”
It was the third consecutive quality start for Buchholz — who took the loss to fall to 2-5 on the season — and the second straight in which he’s pitched into the eighth inning.
“I thought Clay certainly gave us a chance to win this ballgame,” manager John Farrell said. “… I thought he an outstanding job for us to get that deep.”
Asked to comment on the Red Sox’s recent offensive woes, Buchholz pointed out how not long ago, the team’s arms were viewed as its Achilles’ heel.
“I mean, do you remember for the first two or three weeks of the season how the pitching staff was?” he said. “It’s going to happen. Everybody in this clubhouse in confident that everything’s going to come together. Everyone wants it to happen now, and that’s not how baseball works.”
Some additional notes from Thursday night’s series finale at Fenway Park:
— Third baseman Pablo Sandoval was held out of the starting lineup with a left-hander on the mound and some soreness still lingering from his hit-by-pitch Tuesday night. Sandoval did pinch-hit, however — striking out in the eighth inning — and Farrell said he should be good to go for Friday’s series opener against the Los Angeles Angels.
“We would hope he’d be in the lineup (Friday),” the manager said. “He felt fine. He was taking a number of swings in the innings leading up to that spot, so he looked OK.”
— Right fielder Daniel Nava, once a switch hitter, now hits almost exclusively from the left side, and also rarely faces left-handed pitching. But Shane Victorino’s sore calf forced Nava into the starting lineup against Rangers southpaw Wandy Rodriguez, and Nava, who carried a .164 average into Thursday, chose to revert to a right-handed stance.
“He’s, I don’t think, the most confident hitter right now,” Farrell said, “and going up against a left-hander, he felt like going back to his natural side, or a side of the plate in which he’s had more repetitions against a left-handed pitcher, that’s what his game decision was.”
The strategy had mixed results. Nava singled in his second at-bat, but he also struck out twice, including once after switching back to the left side to face right-handed reliever Keone Kela.
Thumbnail photo via Charles Krupa/Associated Press
