Jays fall as Buchholz outduels Dickey
Red Sox righty tosses eight masterful innings to sink Toronto in series opener
Clay Buchholz has been as mercurial as they come in 2015.
You can never be sure what you’re going to see from the enigmatic Boston Red Sox right-hander. Will it be a shutout? Or a shelling?
But that inconsistency disappears when he walks up onto the Rogers Centre mound, where he is king of the hill.
Buchholz came into his 15th career start at the Rogers Centre Monday with the lowest ERA of any pitcher who had made 14 or more starts in the history of Toronto’s home ballpark, going back to 1989.
He came into this game with a 9-3 record and a 2.30 ERA on the road against the Jays and now he has a career 10-3 record with a 2.21 ERA in this venue after tossing eight masterful innings in a 3-1 victory.
Boston got to Toronto starter R.A. Dickey for two runs in the second inning and another in the fifth and that turned out to be more than enough as Buchholz continued his dominance over the Jays in Toronto, allowing five hits.
Dickey got into pitch-count jail early. He used up 104 pitches getting through the sixth inning and was tagged with his eighth loss in 11 decisions.
The first four Red Sox to face Dickey in the second inning reached base and two of them scored, but it could have been much worse.
It all began with an inexcusable walk issued to the No. 9 hitter, Jackie Bradley, who came to the plate hitting a lusty .120 for the season. Mookie Betts then singled between first and second and then Dickey filled the bases by walking Brock Holt. Xander Bogaerts plated the game’s first two runs with a double off the wall in right and it looked as if the Red Sox were in for a big, big inning.
But Dickey bore down, getting David Ortiz, Pablo Sandoval and Mike Napoli on pop-ups to the left side of the infield to extricate himself from a sticky situation, keeping the score manageable.
Toronto had opportunities in the second and third innings but ran themselves into outs both times.
With two out in the second, Russell Martin was hit on the forearm by a Buchholz pitch. Kevin Pillar followed with a double into the left-centre gap. Martin failed to pick up third base coach Luis Rivera’s stop sign until he had rounded the bag. He slid to a stop and tried to get back to the bag but was easily beaten by the relay to third base.
In the third inning, after Travis had singled to lead off, Ryan Goins battled through a 10-pitch at-bat but struck out with Travis on the move to second. Catcher Sandy Leon gunned him down to complete the double-play.