Clay Buchholz Aiming for Wednesday Return
By Editorial Staff
Clay Buchholz is scheduled to pitch one inning during and Instructional League game today. If all goes well, Buchholz would then rejoin the Red Sox and pitch in Wednesday’s regular season finale.Buchholz has been out since the middle of June, dealing with discomfort in his lower back. After his injury didn’t respond to treatment as Boston had hoped, Buchholz was reevaluated. An MRI revealed a fracture in Buchholz’s lower back, and many believed that the right-hander’s season was over.
But Buchholz has battled back. After completing several successful side sessions, Buchholz is now ready to face live hitters in the Instructional League. If his back responds well to today’s work, Buchholz will head to Baltimore and pitch an inning or two in relief in Wednesday’s finale.
At this point, the Red Sox are still saying that they are trying to be patient with Buchholz. Boston insists that their main goal is to have Buchholz enter the offseason healthy.
Still, with their starting pitching struggling and the playoffs approaching, you’d have to figure the Red Sox are doing everything they can to get Buchholz back in their rotation. If he was able to return to early season form, Buchholz would give the Red Sox a solid 1-2-3 punch to go along with Josh Beckett and Jon Lester.
It’s been Buchholz’s goal all along to return in time to help the Red Sox this October. He’ll take another step toward that goal today.
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