Buccholz Gains Steam, Sox Take Orioles In Finale 6-3

Thursday night in Baltimore Clay Buchholz continued to be a bright spot in an otherwise blotchy Red Sox starting rotation in Boston’s series finale against the Orioles. He got down early, bent, did not break and actually got better and stronger as the game progressed.

Early on, it looked like a typical Sox starter scenario. Buccholz gave up two runs in the first on an Adam Jones double that scored Nick Markakis and J.J. Hardy and got down 3-1 in the second on a Mark Reynolds homer (Boston got a run in the top of the second on a Scott Podsednik single to score Nick Punto).

Boston’s bats awakened in the middle innings when they scored two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth. Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman wild pitched Carl Crawford home in the fifth with Adrian Gonzalez at the plate and Gonzo then hit a sac fly to score Dustin Pedroia. In the sixth inning, Pedey, Gonzo and Cody Ross strung together three singles with Podsednik and Carl Crawford aboard to put Boston up for good 6-3.

After the second inning, Buchholz shut down the Birds the rest of the way until he was replaced in the ninth inning by Alfredo Aceves. Buchholz retired the Orioles in order in the third, fourth and sixth innings. Even in the eighth when it looked like Buchholz was tiring after a one out double by Nate McLouth he reared back firing some serious stuff, getting Jones to pop out and striking out Matt Wieters to squelch the threat. Buchholz scattered eight hits, struck out seven, lowered his ERA to 4.19 and moved his record to 10-3.

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best…
And…always look on the bright side of life… 
Always look on the light side of life.
– Always Look On The Bright Side of Life, Eric Idle (Monty Python)