Red Sox Edge Marlins In Pitching Duel (30-32)

Buchholz was brilliant
last night

When it comes to the Boston Red Sox, we haven't seen a whole lot of true pitching duels in recent years. Last night, though, with Clay Buchholz facing Mark Buehrle-- not exactly a match up of aces-- we saw a big one. Neither team scored until the seventh inning (or after) and the Red Sox only managed a hit before the seventh. Buchholz escaped several jams-- even in the first inning, when Jose Reyes tripled to lead off the game, but Buchholz struck out the side to strand him. He got into another jam in the third inning, when a two out rally had put runners at first and second. Hanley Ramirez hit a slow grounder up the middle and beat it out for an infield single, but Jose Reyes had rounded third and was easily thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Buchholz was dominant after that, and the Red Sox finally got going in the seventh inning. With one out, Will Middlebrooks hit a slow line drive into right field that just avoided being caught by Giancarlo Stanton. Adrian Gonzalez flew out, so it was all up to Kelly Shoppach to drive him in.

He allowed a run in seven
innings for a win

Shoppach would drive a pitch directly into the gap. Middlebrooks easily came all the way around first and Shoppach had an RBI double to make it 1-0. However, the Red Sox weren't done yet as Mike Aviles stepped up to the plate and promptly delivered a bloop single to center to score Shoppach and make it 2-0. Darnell McDonald then singled on another blooper to center to put runners at the corners with two outs for Clay Buchholz. The Red Sox did not pinch-hit for Buchholz, and he almost delivered as it took a fantastic diving catch by center fielder Chris Coghlan to prevent an RBI single. The Marlins would get one of those runs back almost immediately as Logan Morrison crushed a line drive home run to deep right to cut the lead to 2-1. Clay Buchholz got out of the inning with minimal damage and left the game after with a 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K line. Vicente Padilla and Alfredo Aceves-- picking up his 15th save-- each threw a scoreless inning to help the Red Sox win for the first time in a while.

Bright Spots:
Clay Buchholz- 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K, W (7-2)
Alfredo Aceves- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K, SV (15)
Kelly Shoppach- 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Mike Aviles- 1-4, 1 RBI
Darnell McDonald- 2-4

Dull Spots:
Scott Podsednik- 0-4, 1 K, 1 LOB
Dustin Pedroia- 0-4, 1 K, 1 LOB
Kevin Youkilis- 0-3

Player of the Game:
Clay Buchholz- For his last seven times up, Buchholz had been fantastic and he was again tonight, allowing a run in seven strong innings-- he is now 7-2/5.38/55.