In the battle of the rookie pitchers, both pitched well (it really would have been helpful if Jackson was having a bad day.) And though the score won't reflect it, Buchholz was better. He pitched seven and two-thirds shut-out innings. He limited the Rays to one hit into the eighth inning and he struck out nine of them.
The problem was that the Red Sox were not hitting well, at all. They had five hits and four walks and they managed to only get one run (and were exceedingly lucky to get that.) They allowed two double plays to be turned against them.
Coco was the first batter of the fifth inning and he got a base hit on a two-two count. The presence of Coco on first base seemed to weigh heavily on Jackson-he attempted repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, to pick him off before he got Varitek to strike out swinging. The change of batter and the out did nothing to relieve his worry. Lowrie was the next batter and Jackson was still preoccupied with getting rid of Crisp. He threw Lowrie a ball, then tried to get Coco. He threw Lowrie a strike, then tried to get Coco. He threw Lowrie a ball, a strike (foul), then another ball, before throwing a wild pitch that rolled to the backstop, put Lowrie on first, and advanced Coco to third. Lugo struck out swinging for the second out (and was not at all pleased with the call-he had a genuine beef about the second strike.) Ellsbury reached on a infield single and Coco came around to score the only Red Sox run of the night.
The only other interesting thing to happen was that with Youkilis' successful play at first base tonight, he now has not only the record for the longest streak of error-less games at first base but also the record for most opportunities to screw up but not doing so. So, good on Kevin Youkilis.
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