Buchholz vs. Fisher Cats 6/30/07

Another very nice outing for Buchholz. He went 5 innings allowing 0 hits, 0 ER, 2 BB and 4 Ks. Didn't really throw many curveballs tonight hence the "low" strikeout totals for tonight, but his change-up was working and fooling hitters the whole night. On the season he has pitched 85.1 IP, 53 hits, 115/21 K/BB, 1.69 ERA and opponents are now batting a microscopic .177 off him on the year. Red Sox GM Theo Epstein attended the game last night and was the reason Buchholz was taken out after only five innings (his PC was in the 70 range).

Epstein had this to say following the outing: (Printed in the Portland Press Herald)
"He's going to throw an inning of relief in the Futures Game so what we're going to do is give him an inning of relief four days from now, on the Fourth.Instead of just interrupting his starting routine, we're going to turn this into a developmental experience for him. We're going to let him see what it's like to pitch out of the pen.We look at him as a starting pitcher but you never know. A lot of great starting pitchers at some point in their career pitch in the pen. This will give him a feel for what it's like. It will also give him a little breather in the middle of the year."