Clay “The Warrior” Buchholz

The last thing the Red Sox needed was another game interrupted by rain and force their starting pitcher out of the game.  Today it was Clay Buchholz who had his start put on hold after the righty had cruised through the first two innings against the Minnesota Twins.  The rains opened up after the 2nd and two storm cells blew through, lasting 2 hours and 7 minutes.  Quite often in this situation the starting pitcher would be done for the day, but not Clay Buchholz.

With a depleted Red Sox bullpen thanks to two previous blowouts and a 13 inning game on Thursday, Buchholz needed to be sharp on the mound and eat some innings.  He did more than that.  He overcame the odds and after the rain delay, Buchholz re-took the mound to finish what he had started.

Buchholz would go the next 3 innings and get his team out of the 5th with a 2-0 lead.  The word out of the Red Sox is that Buchholz threw simulated innings every 12 minutes during the delay, so it was clear he had every intention of going back out and providing his team a gutsy effort and help get back in the win column.

He was a warrior to attempt this stunt.  His entire 5 innings were masterful as he only surrendered 2 hits while striking out a season high 6 batters.  While he didn’t get the win, he only threw 61 pitches and had the skys not opened up he was in great shape to possibly go the distance today.

Alfredo Aceves and Tim Wakefield, both long term relievers had worked yesterday and were unavailable today. 

The year hasn’t gone as planned for Buchholz.  The Texas native has a record of 2-3 with an ERA of 4.19 after today’s contest.  It would have been easy for Clay to shut it down after the two innings and not risk a serious injury.  It is after all only May.  But Buchholz stepped up and delivered the kind of outing that was his norm last season; dominating.  And his team is in better shape because of it after picking up the 4-0 win.

Well done Clay, you’re a warrior at heart and on the mound.

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