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The Red Sox put together a well-rounded game Saturday night, bouncing back from the loss they suffered in the first half of their day - night doubleheader against the Angels to take the second game 7-2.
What was the difference between the two games? One of them was Clay Buchholz. While Felix Doubront was good--better, really, than his numbers on the night show--there's no denying that Clay Buchholz is on another level. With both his curveball and changeup dancing, Buchholz got through the first two innings allowing just a lone ground ball single. The third inning would provide more challenge, with a Hank Conger double and Mike Trout single giving the Angels their first run of the night, but Buchholz went right back to getting outs after allowing the run.
The other difference was, simply put, luck. The Sox seemed to see both Tommy Hanson and C.J. Wilson just fine, but it was against Wilson that they had their hits fall in early. Three straight hits from Shane Victorino, Jonny Gomes, and Dustin Pedroia started the first inning, putting the Sox up 2-0 before they recorded an out. They would leave the bases loaded in the first, but struck again in the second when David Ortiz doubled home Jonny Gomes.
The Sox wouldn't score again until a couple of singles--one of them a blooper between three fielders in left--provided a fourth run in the bottom of the fifth. And even then Buchholz suffered his second lapse by hanging a curveball to Josh Hamilton, resulting in a leadoff double and, eventually, a second Los Angeles run.
That brief rally would be responded to instantly and viciously in the bottom of the sixth, however. Hits from Jose Iglesias and Dustin Pedroia would bring one run home, and also bring David Ortiz to the plate with a man on base After a terrible performance in the first half of the doubleheader arguably cost his team a chance at the game, Ortiz unloaded his frustration on a Jerome Williams cutter, sending a ridiculous shot into the right field seats that came as close as any homer in memory to reaching Fenway's second deck.
With the Sox now ahead 7-2, there was only mop-up duty left. Sox fans would have to deal with a brief scare when Clay Buchholz called for the trainer and left the game with two outs in the seventh inning, but in the end it was only neck tightness, leaving Boston's big win untarnished by disastrous news.
