Red Sox fans have to hope that Clay Buchholz doesn't suffer the same setbacks from a simple golf game that Josh Beckett just did. A mini controversy erupted after the Cleveland Indians pummeled Beckett in game one of their series against the Sox thanks to some commentary about playing golf on his off day while a bit injured and missing a start, and now the Indians will face his partner on the greens in game two.
Buchholz will have a formidable foe as well, with Ubaldo Jimenez taking the mound for Cleveland. The righty hasn't played as well as fans would have hoped from him so far, putting up more walks than strikeouts and a mediocre 4.04 ERA, but he's pitched well enough to keep the Indians in all of his starts. It'll be easier for him knowing that he's facing one of the worst pitching teams in baseball, and a team that has now dropped eight of their last nine games.
Buchholz, to his credit, has somehow accrued a 3-1 record despite a whopping 9.09 ERA and almost 1/1 walk to strikeout ratio. Unfortunately for him, he's got a team that had 12 hits on Thursday to deal with.
The game will be at Fenway Park at 7:10 p.m. ET.
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