First-time visitor Clay Buchholz got the grand tour of Yankee Stadium last night, but not in the usual manner.
Bobby Abreu was nice enough to show Buchholz the right-field bleachers. Alex Rodriguez provided a fly-over view of the retired uniform numbers. And the rest of the Yankee lineup had enough hits that the Boston rookie saw almost every crevice of the ballpark before his night ended.
Buchholz’s walk to the dugout came with two outs in the fourth inning, much too early as far as the Red Sox were concerned. The final carnage included seven earned runs allowed on eight hits and a walk in the Yankees’ 15-9 victory.
This was hardly the same Buchholz the Yankees had seen five nights earlier, when the 23-year-old right-hander held them to one run over six innings at Fenway Park. Buchholz’s biggest issue that night was walks, but this time he couldn’t keep the ball off the Yankees’ bats.
“Early on, the ball was coming out of [Buchholz’s] hand as good as we’ve seen in a long time,” manager Terry Francona said. “They turn two of them around, and it kind of makes you think twice.”
Abreu hit a two-run homer to right in the first inning before Rodriguez blasted a mammoth shot into the visitors’ bullpen that gave the Yanks a 3-1 lead.
“He just got his hands extended and it was probably the longest ball I’ve ever seen hit,” Buchholz said.
Had Buchholz stopped the Yankees there, his performance would have been fine. But any hopes of a respectable outing dissolved in the fourth, when the Yankees scored four more runs.
Derek Jeter’s two-run single gave the Yankees a 6-3 lead after Chad Moeller had delivered an RBI double. The final run charged to Buchholz was the result of Julian Tavarez’s wild pitch with Melky Cabrera on third.
Buchholz previously had indicated he might spend today’s pregame taking a look around Yankee Stadium. Now there’s no need – the Yanks gave him the complete tour last night.
“It was the first time being here, being in front of a lot of people, which I don’t think had any effect on anything tonight,” Buchholz said. “I left a couple of pitches up. Overall, I felt the stuff was good.”