G61: Spiders 11, Red Sox 0

Red Sox   - 000 000 000 -  0  2  0
Cleveland - 101 100 08x - 11 10  0

Masterson: 9-2-0-2-6, 110.

The Big Donkey was around the plate all night and the Sox hitters were swinging at anything and everything. Victor Martinez singled with one out in the second and J.D. Drew singled with one down in the fifth. Masterson issued two walks -- Jeremy Hermida to start the sixth and Kevin Youkilis with two outs in the seventh -- and that was it for Boston baserunners.

Buchholz had a tough first inning -- single, two walks, 30 pitches -- and was lucky to get out with only one run against him. Cleveland padded its lead, but they did not hit HH very hard. A triple (thanks to an ill-advised dive by Hermida in center) and a GIDP made it 2-0 in the third and a single and a couple of wild pitches put the Spiders on top 3-0 in the fourth. His fastball had too much sink on it and the home plate umpire was adamant about not calling anything in the lower third of the strike zone.

The bullpen took over for the eighth and it was ugly. The first nine batters -- and 12 of the first 13 -- reached base. Boof Bonser made his debut: walk, single, walk, RBI single. Then it was Joe Nelson's turn: RBI single, grand slam HR, single, double, walk, GIDP, walk, walk, RBI single, strikeout. 14 batters, 60 pitches, 8 runs.

The Rays beat the Blue Jays 10-1 and the Yankees beat Baltimore 4-2. Boston is in third, 5 GB Tampa Bay.

Clay Buchholz / Justin Masterson

Scutaro, SS
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Youkilis, 1B
Martinez, C
Drew, RF
Beltre, 3B
Hermida, LF
Reddick, CF

Buchholz comes into this game with a streak of 18 consecutive scoreless innings and 0.99 ERA over his last five starts. Although Buchholz is second in ERA (2.39) to Tampa Bay's David Price (2.29), the two men are tied with the best ERA+ in the American league (187). Price gets the ball tonight against Toronto.

After he was traded to Cleveland last year, Masterson pitched in 11 games, including 10 starts. He had an ERA of 4.80 -- a bit worse than league average (4.75) -- in those starts, but the team was 1-9 in those games. Runs scored by Cleveland in Masterson's starts: 5, 0, 11, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 0. Masterson has made 11 starts this season, with a 5.46 ERA and 1.820 WHIP.

Also:

Yankees/Orioles
Blue Jays/Rays