Clay Buchholz Impressive as Red Sox Beat Rays 8-4
By John Green
The Red Sox’ right fielder Cody Ross continued to mash the ball in today’s 8-4 Red Sox win over the Rays but he wasn’t the story of this game. That honor went to Clay Buchholz.
The Red Sox righthander coming off of a season ending stress fracture in 2011, pitched five solid innings in the day game with a final line of 5 IP, 4H, 0BB, and 1ER. He did all this while throwing just 63 pitches (49 for strikes). If Buchholz can regain his 2010 form the Red Sox rotation can match up with any in the AL East, no question.
Cody Ross also continued to make his case for the starting job in right field with a bomb off of Top Prospect Matt Moore in the first inning. He finished the game 1 for 2 leaving his batting average at a juicy .455 for the spring.
Chad Kroeger had two RBI in the game, one coming from a solo homer and the other from a groundout.
The big story for Tampa Bay was Matt Moore‘s inability to throw strikes. The lefty coming off of a mild abdominal strain threw just 26 of his 52 pitches for strikes and walked the bases loaded before he was removed in favor of Romulo Sanchez. Moore’s final line–2 1/3 IP, 2H, 4ER, 3BB and 2K. He also allowed both home runs to Cody Ross and Josh Kroeger.
Evan Longoria hit a solo homer for the Rays in the second inning and also scored a run in the sixth.
Luke Scott had a grand slam… Just kidding he really didn’t, he did drive in a run though! … On a groundout.
That’s the scoop from Sundays game, 18 days until Opening Day. Stay tuned for what figures to be an exciting 2012 season.