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Everything clicked for Clay Buchholz on Thursday — except for the Boston Red Sox’s offense.
The Red Sox produced just three hits in a 2-1, walk-off loss to the Tamp Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. The defeat handed Boston its first series loss of 2015, but Buchholz’s performance against a common American League East foe still offered a big reason for optimism in spite of the end result.
“Best I’ve felt all year,” Buchholz said confidently after the game. “I felt that way warming up. Just getting here today, my body felt really good. My mindset was just to build off of the last time out and I just about had all my pitches working the way I wanted to.”
Buchholz had everything working in the series finale. He maintained a good rhythm — something that’s often a struggle for Buchholz — and allowed only one run on two hits before handing over the baseball.
The outing was encouraging for several reasons, one of which was that a Red Sox starter effectively made it through six innings without falling apart at the seams. The sixth inning has been a danger zone for Boston this season, with the most recent example coming Wednesday, when Joe Kelly hit a brick wall in the sixth after five very impressive innings to begin his start.
But Buchholz’s performance deserves attention for more than just the right-hander’s ability to last six frames and not leave behind a messy situation for Boston’s overworked bullpen. He actually seemed like he was pitching with conviction and confidence, which is exactly what this rotation needs amid an up-and-down start to the season.
“It was quality stuff for the six innings of work,” Red Sox manager John Farrell told reporters in St. Petersburg, Fla. “I thought he threw some pitches with some purpose in off the plate to keep some hitters honest. Four pitches for strikes, made a couple of key pitches, particularly in the sixth inning, where that’s been a little bit of a bump for us. But (he) did his job.”
Both hits Buchholz allowed came in the second inning. Evan Longoria led off with a ground-rule double and scored three batters later when Logan Forsythe singled into center field. Buchholz also plunked Allan Dykstra in the leg with a pitch but struck out Kevin Kiermaier and Rene Rivera to avoid any additional damage.
Buchholz was lights-out in his other five innings, with the exception of three walks. He struck out a season-high 10 batters, marking his first double-digit strikeout performance since fanning 12 in a complete-game shutout against the Houston Astros on July 13 last season.
He recorded the K’s by masterfully working both sides of the plate and mixing his pitches. Buchholz struck out two batters with his two-seam fastball, two with his four-seamer, two with his cutter, two with his changeup and two with his curveball, as noted by Dan Brooks of the famed BrooksBaseball.net.
“When I felt like I had all four pitches working, I was going to throw them and use them in different situations for strike one or a strikeout or just to put a ball in play and get back in the count,” Buchholz said. “For the most part, I feel like I did pretty good at that. I felt really good. You’re supposed to win the games that you feel really good and it didn’t happen (Thursday).”
It didn’t happen because the Red Sox’s offense struggled and the Rays struck for a run on three hits against Anthony Varvaro in the bottom of the ninth inning.
There’s nothing Buchholz, who didn’t factor into the decision, can do about that. He did his job, and he did it at a time when the starting rotation’s performance has been all over the map.
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
