Clay Buchholz did not look good
on Saturday night but the bats picked him up only to fall to the Brewers in 11
innings.
The Red Sox were able to rally
from an early deficit caused by Clay Buchholz’s awful season debut, but in the
end, reliever Burke Badenhop gave up a tiebreaking RBI double in the top of the
11th to give the home team a 7-6 loss on a cool night at Fenway
Park.
Buchholz last only 4 and 1/3
innings, giving up 6 runs on 13 hits while walking none and striking out
3. He gave up 2 homers, one to Carlos
Gomes and another to Mark Reynolds. His
command was not good as he was consistently right down the middle of the plate
with pitches. The Brewers are a team
that will crust those mistakes and they made Buchholz pay pitch after
pitch. 5 of the 13 hits allowed were
extra bases.
After the game, he admitted that
he missed with a lot of pitches and they were able to get the good part of the
bat on a lot of pitches. With a good
hitting team like this, you can’t miss over the middle of the plate.
Chris Capuano had another stellar
outing out of the bullpen for the Sox.
Capuano went 2 innings giving up just 2 hits and striking out 4. Brandon Workman went 1 and 2/3 innings giving
up just 1 hit while striking out 3. Koji
Uehara worked 1 inning and struck out all 3 batters he faced and Junichi Tazawa
worked struck out the side while allowed 1 hit and 1 walk but no runs.
It looked like the bullpen would
bail out Buchholz but the Sox couldn’t get any runs after the 6th
inning and in the top of the 11th, Burke Badenhop would give up a
1-out ground-rule double to Khris Davis, who went 4 for 6 in the game, and then
follow-up double to Logan Schafer to give the Brewers a 7-6 lead and eventual
win. Badenhop would strike out Mark
Reynolds before being lifted for Andrew Miller who struck out Scooter Gennett
to end the threat. The damage had been
done and the Sox couldn’t do anything in the bottom of the ninth against
Francisco Rodriguez who struck out the side.
Rodriguez looks like vintage K-Rod from back in his Angel days.
Offensively, the Sox struggled
again with the bats. They managed only 7
hits and struck out 13 times in the game.
With runners in scoring position, 2 for 6 with 3 left on base. Not terrible, but also not a lot of
opportunities.
Dustin Pedroia went 1 for 5 with
a run scored, Jonny Gomes went 1 for 4 with a run scored, double and a walk. Jonathan Herrera, who started at 3rd
base in place of Will Middlebrooks, went 1 for 4 with an RBI. Middlebrooks was placed on the DL with a calf
strain after the game. It’s a shame
because he had such a great spring and was just getting hot in the last couple
of games. Hopefully it’ll be a quick 15
day thing and he’ll be back in the lineup quickly because this offense needs
him to perform badly.
Mike Napoli went 2 for 5 with a
run scored, 3 RBI and his 2nd homer of the season. Xander Bogaerts went 2 for 4 with 2 runs
scored and a walk and is just crushing the ball right now. A.J. Pierzynski went 0 for 4 with 3
strikeouts but did knock in a run and Grady Size more went 0 for 4 with a run
scored and a walk.
Unfortunately there wasn’t much
more to talk about as the Brewers were able to hold off the Sox for the
remaining 5 innings after a gritty comeback.
The Sox will try to salvage one
game of the series as Jon Lester will make his 2nd start of the year
on Sunday afternoon. He’ll be opposed by
Yovani Galllardo, who picked up his first win of the season in his first start
last Monday.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Mike Napoli. Napoli blasted a 3-run homer in the 3rd
to get the Sox back in the game and then added another hit later on. He struck out 3 times, but as we saw last
year, he’s a free swinger and will strike out a lot. His homers are bombs and this was no
different, a big blast to centerfield.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Clay Buchholz. His command was terrible and most pitches
were right down the middle of the plate.
He’ll need to be sharper in his next outing.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Logan Schaffer’s RBI double in
the top of the 11th to win the game for the Brewers.
NEXT
Sunday, April 6th at home vs. the
Milwaukee Brewers.
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