Raindance Buchholz Defeat Blue Jays (8/22/10)

It rained...and rained...and rained. No amount of rain could stop Clay Buchholz's march to the Cy Young however.

The game was delayed 2 hours by rainfall, but Clay Buchholz (15-5, 2.26 ERA) kept the Toronto Blue Jays off balanced as the game went on. His counterpart Shawn Marcum (11-7, 3.70 ERA) was game but just not good enough.

The game remained scoreless through 4 1/2 innings as Buchholz and Marcum both dominated. Buchholz using his whole arsenal to keep Toronto off balance while Marcum didn't allow a hit for the first 4 innings. The Sox then got on the board in the bottom of the 5th.

David Ortiz opened the salvo with a hilarious romp around the bases after hitting a ball into the center field alley, sliding into third with a rare triple. Adrian Beltre added to his rbi total by doubling in Big Papi to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. Marcum recovered to get Lowell and Lowrie, but Bill Hall swatted his 17th home run of the year to put Boston up 3-0.

The Jays threatened to open the 6th. Jose Bautista and Vernon Wells hit back to back singles to put pressure on Clay for the first time all game. The Cy Young front-runner struck out Adam Lind then got Lyle Overbay to fly out before John McDonald lined out to end their only threat of the night. After the 2 hour delay to start and the hour long delay in the 3rd, manager Terry Francona decided to pull Buchholz before he pulled something. Clay had now tossed 23 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, lowering his league leading ERA to 2.26.

In the 7th, red hot Daniel Bard came on in relief of Buchholz. Travis Snider walked to open the inning, but Bard got Jose Molina to pop up then struck out both Fred Lewis and Yuneleski Escobar to end the inning. Marcum then pitched a scoreless 7th to keep the Jays close. Rookie Felix Doubront replaced Bard in the top of the 8th and worked around a Vernon Wells single to keep the game 3-0.

The Sox struck against Jason Frasor in the bottom of the 8th. After Bill Hall struck out, rookie Ryan Kalish doubled and Marco Scutaro walked. Frasor managed to punch out JD Drew but Victor Martinez singled in Kalish and David Ortiz singled in Scutaro to up the score 5-0. Beltre lined out to end the inning but the Sox now had a commanding lead going into the 9th. Doubront mopped up the 9th to earn his second save of the year and the Sox went on to win 5-0 to take 2 of 3 from Toronto.

Once again Tampa Bay and New York won, keeping the Sox 6.5 behind the Yankees and 5.5 behind the Rays. Not far enough to consider the season over but not close enough to inspire any sort of confidence. Hopefully Buchholz' effort can spark the staff from here on as the makeshift lineup can work some magic to get into the post-season.

Tomorrow night the Seattle Mariners are in town and John Lackey (11-7, 4.62 ERA) stands in their way. The Mariners will counter with Doug Fister (4-8, 3.92 ERA) who's pitched better than his record indicates.