Boston Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz looked to be an easy mark for the Cleveland Indians. In seven starts this season, Buchholz had yet to allow fewer than five earned runs and owned a 9.09 ERA. Desperation can summon a person's better attributes, and it worked for Buchholz on Friday night, who turned in a solid effort in a 7-5 Red Sox win at Fenway Park.
It was a different story for Indians' starter Ubaldo Jimenez. Boston knocked him around for seven earned runs before he got the hook in the fifth. He gave up nine hits and issued five free passes. His ERA now stands at 5.18 and he has more walks than strike outs, 35/28.
Carlos Santana put Cleveland on the board with a run-scoring single in the first. Boston answered with four runs in the first two innings and another three in the fifth. Cleveland hitters managed eight hits off Buchholz. The Tribe scored three in the seventh after Buchholz left the game, sending two runners home that Bucholz had walked to start the inning.
Cleveland started to rally in the top of the ninth. Santana walked to lead off the inning, and Michael Brantley drove him home with a single. Boston's closer, Alfredo Aceves struck out Jack Hannahan for the second out, before getting Johnny Damon, who represented the winning run, on a fly ball to center.
The two teams play again Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
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