He wasn't in the process of throwing a no-hitter like he did late last season, but rookie Clay Buchholz certainly had the look of a staff ace on Saturday night in Tampa Bay. And on most evenings his performance would be the lead story on SportsCenter. However, this wasn't the type of ending that Buchholz or the Red Sox were expecting. Tampa's Akinori Iwamura sent an offering from Buchholz into the rightfield seats with a man aboard in the eighth inning as the Rays stole a game from Boston 2-1.
Until that fateful pitch Buchholz was in complete command of this one. He had given up just two hits and has struck out eight batters. The Red Sox rookie was mixing his pitches well and throwing all of them for strikes. After a first inning in which he issued a pair of two out walks, Buchholz retired 20 of 21 batters before Dioner Navarro singled with one out in the eighth inning. Buchholz then got Jason Bartlett to fly out to centerfield before Akinori stepped to the plate.
This may have been a much different story had the Red Sox generated more offense. They managed just five hits on the evening and stranded 15 men on base. An infield single in the fifth inning by Jacoby Ellsbury scored Coco Crisp with the Sox only run of the evening. As a result, Boston went down for the fourth time in a row while Tampa is now on a five-game winning streak.
HOLD ON A MINUTE
Before we get all worked up and start those ridiculous "FIRE FRANCONA" chants keep this in mind. For the past several years Francona has been accused of being a push button manager who won't give the kids a chance to prove themselves. Well, don't change your tune when he does just that and it doesn't work out as a victory.
Francona made the right call by staying with Buchholz. What he saw was a pitcher who was commanding the strike zone. Yes, he was nearing 100 pitches coming into the eighth, but Buchholz opened that frame by striking out Gabe Gross on four pitches and he had Navarro 1 and 2 before giving up a single. And at that point it was still Clay's inning to finish. He was facing two hitters (Bartlett & Akinori) who were just north of the .200 mark and had dominated both in their previous at-bats.
The kid made a mistake and his manager shouldn't be fried for showing faith in him. Buchholz has the ability to be a staff ace and he isn't going to become one unless his manager gives him the opportunity to do just that. Francona gets high marks from me on this one.
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Tough loss last night, but it was reassuring to see young Clay do so well. There was no reason to take him out, and only 2 that kept him from the W. (He is a "Top Performer" on espn scorecard this morning, despite the L ) Two runs were all that was needed from the bats to get the win. Flu, injury, fatigue: whatever the reason for the Silence of the Bats, there's no crying in Baseball, right? Look forward to seeing Beckett back fom the flu today, and warching his teammates back him up, on the field and at the plate. Go Red Sox!
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