The Red Sox fell 4-1 to the Orioles in a low-scoring and slow-moving game on Saturday afternoon in the Fens. Clay Buchholz squared off against the O’s de facto ace Chris Tillman. Both pitched well enough, but neither was particularly sharp, resulting in a lot of three-ball counts (but only three walks between the two starters) and neither man making it past the 6th inning.

The old cliché would say that Buchholz “scattered” 11 hits (yes, eleven) over 6 innings, since he only yielded two runs, but that’s not what happened. Eight of the eleven came in the 4th and 5th innings. Clay gave up five hits to the first six batters of the 4th, surrendering two runs before striking out De Aza and Pearce to leave the bases loaded. In the 5th he gave up three straight singles to load the bases, got Manny Machado to ground into a 3-2-3 twin killing, walked Caleb Joseph to reload the bases, then struck out Ryan Flaherty to end the frame. I could use another cliché and tell you that Buchholz “worked out of trouble” in the aforementioned innings; this is accurate but I feel like it doesn’t do the situation justice. This was more like a 5-year-old doing his best Basquiat impression on the dining room wall, getting caught, getting a half-hearted admonition from a disinterested parent, then turning around and finishing his masterpiece just seven minutes later.

I was really encouraged by this performance by Buchholz. While he was sharp at times, he clearly didn’t have his best stuff today. He was able to battle through anyway and turned in a quality start, walking only 1 and striking out 7. This is a huge step forward from the disaster in the Bronx last week.

Offensive highlights:

There were really only two.

1) Brock Holt – Batting leadoff and playing centerfield, Holt went 3 for 4 with a stolen base, raising his average to .579.

2) David Ortiz – Went 3 for 3 with a double and a walk, scoring the only run of the evening for the Sox. His first hit was off the Monster but De Aza played it perfectly, throwing Papi out trying to reach second.

Napoli strung together a couple good ABs, lining out after nine pitches in the 4th, then singling hard up the middle in the 6th. This is more of a silver lining than a highlight.

Tillman has had the Sox’ number over the years. He had a career ERA of 2.69 against Boston coming into this game, and that number is obviously smaller now.

Notes:

–Pedey had a rough day, leaving a handful of runners on. In the 3rd he grounded out on a soft dribbler to Machado with runners on the corners to end the inning. However, Machado may be one of only three or four guys in league who make that play.

-Gary Striewski has really grown on me, he’s good at balancing being personable and professional. I still miss ex-flames Jenny Dell and Heidi Watney though.

-The real Red Sox highlight in this one was Jerry Remy explaining the sea breeze to Don Orsillo. Orsillo thought the reason the breeze was cold was because it originated in Canada. This eventually led to Don and Jerry being very smudge about the fact that they have their broadcast booth closed, while everyone else was exposed to the cold breeze.

-Adam Jones is really dialed in, getting hits on a fastball, a curveball, and a cutter. He’s hitting close to .500 in his last six games.

-One of the hits Buchholz gave up was a fly ball that Hanley dropped in left. It was ruled a hit because he was right up against the Monster, and and his glove might’ve hit the wall before the ball got there, but it was a really catchable ball that bounced off the heel of his glove. It loaded the bases with 0 outs. The similarities to Manny continue.

-This was the second straight outing Robbie Ross Jr. has given up a 2-run homer. Ross served up a center-cut fastball on a 3-1 count to Crush Davis, who smacked it over the Monster.