Recap - Buchholz strong outing not enought to push Sox back to .500.
Jorge Camargo
Contributing Writer
The Red Sox attacked first in the 2n inning with Xander Bogaerts' third triple of the season. Meanwhile, Clay Buchholz was throwing a one-hitter until the 6th inning, when he allowed a home run to Seth Smith to tie the game.
Buchholz was extremely good in this outing. 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 11 K's and 0 BB. This game was enough to lower Buchholz' ERA to 4.93. If this was the first Red Sox game someone ever seen, they would think that Buchholz was the ace of the rotation. Kershaw caliber. But as usual, it was not enough.
Farrell pulled Buchholz out of the game in the 9th inning with 102 pitches and brought in Tommy Layne. The game was tied when Layne allowed a single to Brad Miller, who eventually advanced to second base wih a groundout from Robinson Cano. Junichi Tazawa replaced Layne and the first batter he faced was Nelson Cruz, who gave the Mariners a walk-off win. Farrell decided to pitch to Cruz with first bases open. Let that sink in. Red Sox manager decided to pitch to the hottest hitter in the league. We will never know, but I'm sure that if Cruz was sent to first base with an intentional walk, I'd still be watching the game instead of writing the recap.
Now the Red Sox are 11-3 when scoring first, two games below .500 and will face Félix Hernández this afternoon.
Would you pitch to Nelson Cruz with first base open? Are we now seeing the results of a new pitching coach with Clay Buchholz' strong outing? Leave your comments below and don't forget to follow us on Twitter at @RedSoxLife.
Contributing Writer
The Red Sox attacked first in the 2n inning with Xander Bogaerts' third triple of the season. Meanwhile, Clay Buchholz was throwing a one-hitter until the 6th inning, when he allowed a home run to Seth Smith to tie the game.
Buchholz was extremely good in this outing. 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 11 K's and 0 BB. This game was enough to lower Buchholz' ERA to 4.93. If this was the first Red Sox game someone ever seen, they would think that Buchholz was the ace of the rotation. Kershaw caliber. But as usual, it was not enough.
 |
| Photo: The Associated Press |
John Farrell blamed the loss on his decision to pitch to Nelson Cruz. Volunteered it before being asked.
— Nick Cafardo (@nickcafardo) May 16, 2015
Now the Red Sox are 11-3 when scoring first, two games below .500 and will face Félix Hernández this afternoon.
Would you pitch to Nelson Cruz with first base open? Are we now seeing the results of a new pitching coach with Clay Buchholz' strong outing? Leave your comments below and don't forget to follow us on Twitter at @RedSoxLife.
