Boston @ Toronto preview
Rogers Centre
Last Meeting ( Apr 26, 2010 ) Boston 13, Toronto 12
Shaun Marcum and Clay Buchholz, the floor is yours. Now can you stay there for a while?
Those could very well be the sentiments of the opposing managers when the Toronto Blue Jays host the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday in the second of a three-game series.
When Marcum takes the ball for the Blue Jays, he’ll likely be told one thing by his coaches and teammates: Give us innings. Buchholz can expect to hear a similar sentiment the Boston clubhouse – and with good reason.
Both teams taxed their bullpens – not to mention their bats – in Monday night’s wild slugfest, with resulted in a 13-12 victory by the Red Sox.
Boston battered six Toronto pitchers for 18 hits while the Blue Jays returned the favor by clubbing seven Red Sox pitchers for 16 hits in the 4-hour, 3-minute marathon.
That leaves it to Marcum and Buchholz to attempt to restore some sense of pitching sanity between the AL East rivals.
Although he is winless on the season, Marcum (0-1, 4.00 ERA) has shown the ability to pitch deep into a ballgame, going seven innings in three of his four starts.
Coming off Tommy John surgery that caused him to miss the entire 2009 season, Marcum showed he was back by pitching six no-hit innings against the Texas Rangers on Opening Day.
He’ll have to face a Boston lineup that featured five different players with three hits apiece in Monday’s game. Lost in the offensive avalanche was the return of Red Sox shortstop Marco Scutaro to Toronto.
Scutaro played the last two years with the Blue Jays, who opted not to sign him in the offseason. He set the tone at the top of Boston’s lineup Monday, going 3-for-5 and scoring a career-high four runs.
Ironically, Alex Gonzalez, the player signed by Toronto to replace Scutaro, finished last year playing shortstop for the Red Sox.
Gonzalez did not take a back seat to Scutaro on Monday night, collecting two hits, including a two-run triple that tied the game at 8-8. He already has five homers and 13 RBIs on the season.
Despite a three-game losing streak, the Blue Jays have to be feeling good about the resurgence of first baseman Lyle Overbay, who was batting .080 a week ago. He homered, doubled, singled and drove in four runs Monday, giving him nine hits in his last 21 at-bats.
Overbay will look to keep it going against Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz, against whom he is 6-for-14 in his career.
Buchholz should rent an apartment in Toronto for the number of times he has faced the Blue Jays. The 25-year-old right-hander has made six of his 37 career starts against Toronto, and three of his seven wins in 2009 were against the Jays.
The Blue Jays finally solved Buchholz in late September, rocking him for four home runs, including two by Adam Lind.