BOSTON — No Red Sox pitcher exhibits more Jekyll-and-Hyde tendencies than Clay Buchholz, and both sides of the right-hander were on display Tuesday as he returned to the rotation after a month-long foray into relief.
The good: Buchholz retired 14 of the 19 Chicago White Sox batters he faced during his five innings of work.
The not-so-good: Two of the four hits he surrendered were home runs, including one that came on his very first pitch in Boston’s eventual 3-1 loss.
All told, Buchholz, who also allowed a double on the game’s second pitch, threw 78 pitches (52 strikes), gave up three earned runs, walked one and struck out five in his longest outing since May 26.
“They smacked him in the face the first two pitches he threw,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said after the game. “A solo home run and a double. But he did settle in, and he got through the five. We were thinking about around an 80(-pitch) count neighborhood for him, but I thought he settled in. …
“(He) continues to build upon the most recent relief outing and then tonight. Unfortunately, against a guy like (White Sox starter Chris) Sale, two runs becomes a pretty insurmountable deficit.”
Buchholz faced one batter above the minimum over his final four frames, with his only post-first inning slip-up coming in the form of a solo homer by Todd Frazier in the fourth.
“I found a way to minimize that (first) inning,” said Buchholz, who’d come out of the bullpen in each of his previous five appearances after being booted from the rotation last month. “And then the Frazier home run, I thought I had him set up for (a pitch) in. Apparently I didn’t, and he put a good swing on that. Overall, it felt really good. … For the most part, probably the first pitch of the game was the one pitch that I missed location a little bit on.”
Buchholz’s effort, while far from perfect, might have been enough to earn the Red Sox a win had their bats not gone silent against Sale, who allowed a run on four hits and struck out nine in seven innings. It at least was enough to earn him another turn through the rotation, as Farrell confirmed after the game.
“I would expect him to make the next start, yes,” the manager said.
That start likely will come Sunday against the Texas Rangers.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
