Buchholz Sharp In Red Sox Win Over Twins

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) —Clay Buchholz is ready for the big crowds.

Buchholz pitched one-hit ball for four scoreless innings, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 6-1 Thursday night in the first of three straight games between the teams to end spring training.

“I’d rather just be able to make a smooth transition (into the regular season), carry on everything that we’ve done to prepare for that first start and everything,” Buchholz said. “Just keep doing the same thing. The same game, just more people watching you do it.”

Buchholz walked one and struck out six. The right-hander allowed just two runs over 22 2-3 innings in six starts.

“Thought he was very sharp,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “A number of two-seamers that he threw in to left-handers that came back on the plate for some put-away pitches, strike-three calls. Good cutter, changeup, four-pitch mix for strikes. I thought he looked very sharp.”

Twins starter Kevin Correia was pleased with his outing. He went five innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk with one strikeout.

“It was a good one to end on,” Correia said. “It was my efficient outing so far in the spring probably. It’s nice to have that as your last one before the season starts.”

Correia pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth to end his outing.

“If that’s a regular-season game, that’s a pretty important inning when you’ve got a guy like Buchholz throwing as good as he was,” Correia said. “You don’t have room to give up many runs if you want to win the game. So to get out of that inning was huge.”

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was pleased with Correia’s outing.

“That was fun to watch Correia,” Gardenhire said. “The ball was moving. He used his pitches well. What we’re looking for is them to get their arm strength built up, their pitches built up, and at the end here finish up with a good performance. And he did all that. So it ended up being a nice spring for him. He did all that.”

The Red Sox scored their lone run off Correia in the first inning, when Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a double, moved to third on Daniel Nava’s groundout and scored on Dustin Pedroia’s groundout.

New Red Sox closer Joel Hanrahan followed Buchholz. Since getting roughed up by the Twins on March 7, when he gave up four runs in one-third of an inning, Hanrahan has pitched 4 1-3 scoreless innings in five appearances.

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