Clay Buchholz set to make second rehab appearance

Clay Buchholz' minor league rehab stint will continue Friday night when he takes the mound for the Pawtucket Red Sox against the Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals.

It won't be hard for Buchholz to improve on his first rehab start. Pitching for short-season Lowell on the 25th, Buchholz struggled to record just two outs, walking three batters and surrendering three runs. Only one of those was earned, however, thanks to the defense making a whopping three errors behind him.

But if it wasn't an ideal performance, it was also neither entirely unexpected or discouraging. Buchholz, after all, was pitching his first real game in months, and the important bit was that he felt no pain afterwards, clearing him for this second outing. He'll have another game with the Pawtucket Red Sox before making his way up to the majors, so Boston fans shouldn't even be too worried about the results tonight. But with the stretch run coming and the minor league season coming to an end, it would be nice to see him get into gear tonight.

Alex Wilson will join Buchholz in rehabbing with Pawtucket, coming out of the bullpen at some point after Clay's night is over. Wilson has been on the disabled list since July 8th after a pair of bad outings bumped his ERA from 3.16 all the way up to 4.88. Hopefully a healthier Wilson will also prove a more effective Wilson when he makes his return.

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