Clay Buchholz. Do you know the name. Probably not. He's an MLB pitcher for the Red Sox. But during his entire career, he had only made 1 start, which he won. Before yesterday he was just a young pitcher fighting for a job in '08. But now he's in the history books. Buchholz took the mound yesterday against the Orioles and looked for his 2nd career win. He didn't need to wait long for the Sox to get him some runs, as Coco Crisp drove in his 49th run to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. The runs just kept on coming from there, as the Sox cashed in 10 by the 8th. But by then the buzz wasn't about the runs, it was about Buchholz. He had throw a no-hitter threw 8! All he needed was 3 more outs. Brian Roberts was the 1st to go up, and went right back to the dugout after Buchholz struck him out. Then Corey Patterson flew out to centre for the 2nd out. Then, Nick Markakis came up to bat. Buchholz got 2 quick strikes then a nasty curveball to strike him out and throw a no-hitter! It was the 1st no-hitter by a Red Sox rookie ever.
The closest the Orioles came to a hit was when Miguel Tejada led off the seventh with a sharp grounder up the middle. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia raced to his right and dove. He backhanded the ball, stood up and fired to first, where the throw easily beat Tejada, who slid in headfirst.
''I jumped up as fast as I could and I threw it as hard as I could,'' Pedroia said. Buchholz jumped but missed the ball. ''I was thinking it was over,'' Buchholz said. ''When he made that play I knew something was meant to happen tonight. It was an incredible moment in my life.''
Buchholz joined Mark Buehrle of the White Sox (April 18) and Justin Verlander of the Tigers (June 12) among the pitchers to throw a no-hitter this season -- all of whom are American Leaguers. He also became the 21st rookie to throw a no-hitter, the first since Florida's Anibal Sanchez on Sept. 6, 2006.
''There's no going back to Triple-A,'' Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.
No comments:
Post a Comment