Red Sox Use Buchholz's Strong Outing to Win 7th Straight

Sports Illustrated

Red Sox 5 Blue Jays 1
Winning Pitcher: Clay Buchholz (5-3)
Losing Pitcher: Jo-Jo Reyes (2-5)


Recap
Clay Buchholz gave maybe his best start so far in 2011, and the Red Sox offense gave him plenty of support to push the team's win streak to seven, coming off sweeps of Oakland and New York. The offense got going in the third after the starters both cruised through the opening two innings. After Jarrod Saltalamacchia led the inning off with a single, and Ellsbury moved him to third on a ground rule double, Dustin Pedroia, who is back after a day off due to knee issues, knocked in Salty on a groundball to shortstop in the hole, and a double play ball from Adrian Gonzalez allowed Ellsbury to cross the plate. Buchholz ran into trouble for the first time in the fourth, when he opened the inning by allowing back to back singles. Corey Patterson eventually came around to cut the deficit in half on a Juan Rivera sac fly. The Red Sox got the run right back, when Gonzalez once again knocked in Ellsbury. Kevin Youkilis came up next to score Pedroia. Buchholz was able to pitch into the seventh, when it looked as if he may cough up some of the three run lead. He walked Aaron Hill, then a wild pitch advanced him to second. Then, speedster Rajai Davis reached and advanced Hill on an error from Jed Lowrie. Buchholz calmed down and got out of the inning unscathed, and that was it for him. He finished with 7 innings, allowing just the one run on three hits, two walks and six Ks. The offense tacked on one more run, and Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon came out to keep the Jays at one as the Red Sox continued their red-hot play. 


Home Runs
Boston: None
Toronto: None

The Red Sox and Jays continue their series tomorrow afternoon at 1:07 PM ET. Boston will send John Lackey (3-5 7.60) to the mound against Toronto's Brandon Morrow (2-3 4.50).