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Red Sox vs. Mariners lineups: Clay Buchholz aims to keep Sox rolling

Clay Buchholz started this small run of success the Red Sox are enjoying. Can he keep it going before Felix Hernandez shows up?

By Ben Buchanan
Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports

The Red Sox are winners of 4-out-of-5 after a tight 2-1 victory over the Mariners Thursday night. Now they'll try to get a fifth in against J.A. Happ and get back to .500 before they have to face the tall task of Felix Hernandez on Saturday.

BOSTON RED SOX (17-18) SEATTLE MARINERS (15-19)
Mookie Betts - CF Seth Smith - LF
Dustin Pedroia - 2B Brad Miller - SS
David Ortiz - DH Robinson Cano - 2B
Hanley Ramirez - LF Nelson Cruz - RF
Mike Napoli - 1B Kyle Seager - 3B
Shane Victorino - RF Justin Ruggiano - CF
Pablo Sandoval - 3B Logan Morrison - 1B
Xander Bogaerts - SS Rickie Weeks - DH
Sandy Leon - C Mike Zunino - C
Clay Buchholz - RHP J.A. Happ - LHP

While Happ is obviously not Hernandez, he's pitching better to start 2015 than he has in any year before. Through six games, Happ holds a 3.29 ERA, nearly a full run below his career average of 4.20. He's allowed more than two runs in an outing just once, two starts ago in Houston. Since then he's managed a solid-if-short performance against Oakland, so the Red Sox--who have done a terrible job at hitting lefties thus far this season--won't even have the benefit of facing him while he's off-balance.

The same might be said about Clay Buchholz, but even if his last performance was the best he's had in weeks, it was nothing to write home about. It's been a long while since we've seen anything from Buchholz that ventured into the realm of truly encouraging. A legitimately good outing would be a welcome sight indeed,;a sight worth hoping for, if not one we can reasonably expect.

First pitch is at 10:10 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.

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