Boston Red Sox: Clay Buchholz needs to go back to the bullpen
After Clay Buchholz’s horrendous pitching performance for the Red Sox yesterday, people should know now that he can’t be a big game starter.
Clay Buchholz was lucky that the Boston Red Sox offense went off yesterday afternoon in an 11-8 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays.
In arguably the biggest game of the year, Buchholz had yet another shot to prove to people that he can be a big game pitcher. But like always, he let people down.
After just 3 innings and 6 runs, Buchholz was done and the bullpen was put to work. Buchholz should have paid for the lineup’s dinner last night because if it wasn’t for them, he would have been the newest athlete in Boston to be hated.
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It was amazing to watch how much of a different pitcher Buchholz became if you were to compare him in the 1st and 3rd innings. In the 1st, Buchholz was going after hitters with his fastball and pounding the strike zone early in the count. Ignoring the Edwin Encarnacion solo shot in the first, the strategy was going well for him in the first two innings.
Then came the 3rd inning where he suddenly changed into the pitcher everyone hated. He began to try to paint the corners and throw first pitch curve balls in the dirt which then lead to being behind in the count to almost every hitter.
As we found out, when you walk a few batters in a row, you eventually groove a fastball to someone. That’s what Buchholz did to Toronto’s Troy Tulowitzki and he hit a ball that probably hasn’t landed yet. Not only was it a home run, but a grand slam that ended Buchholz’s day when the inning finally came to a close.
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I know Buchholz has performed well in his last couple starts, but look at who he has faced. Two last place teams, the Tampa Bay Rays and San Diego Padres. If you are contending for the playoffs, those are the teams people expect you to beat. But when Buchholz goes against an actual competitive lineup, he simply chokes.
With that being said, Buchholz should go back to the bullpen where he has seen some success for the first time in awhile. Have him be the pitcher he was yesterday for the first two innings. Going after hitters and throwing first pitch strikes is what we have seen from Buchholz when he comes out of the bullpen. He isn’t trying to be a finesse pitcher when he’s starting.
In the end, the Boston Red Sox are in the first place of the AL East with just a few weeks left in the regular season. Every game is now huge, so should Buchholz be in the starting rotation? Knowing that every remaining game in the regular season is against a team in their division, I think manager John Farrell should think about that.
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Buchholz is a mental case and after yesterday’s bad start, it may turn into trend for him which is the last thing you want, especially in September.