The first rookie in Red Sox history to do so, Clay Buchholz has thrown a no-hitter!
The crowd was amazing, and Buchholz was rather reserved in the celebration after dropping the hammer on Nick Markakis for a called third strike to notch the no-hitter. He pumped his fist and walked to Varitek, at which point Varitek lifted him up and he smiled. He gave up three walks and whiffed nine, pitching around 120 pitches. He had six groundouts and 11 flyouts.
Theo Epstein, in his luxury box, was ecstatic, and Josh Beckett was pulling for Buchholz every step of the way, constantly muttering “come on, kid” and Beckett jokingly said that it was “a lot better than Curt Schilling did!” after the game.
Boy, his change and curve were FILTHY.
Kudos go to Buchholz himself, Coco Crisp and Dustin Pedroia (who deserves play of the game) for excellent plays in the field to keep the no-hitter alive, also the first time the Orioles have been shut-out this year.
Buchholz joins Wilson Alvarez as the second pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter in his second start, who tossed one in 1991. Bob Holloman in 1953 is the only one to throw one in his first start. Next time out, Buchholz will chase Johnny Vandermeer as the only two to throw back-to-back no-hitters (okay, starting to get a bit ahead of myself).
Clay Buchholz’s postgame conference included plenty of quotes, I grabbed a few:
“You just dream about things happening like this.”
“I tried to zone everything out but it was sort of hard with 40,000 people screaming down your throat.”
“[Dustin Pedroia] comes out of nowhere and makes one of the 10 best plays I’ve ever seen in 10 years (paraphrased, dude talks fast!)”
“The best part of today (was) that I kept them off-balance and didn’t get behind in the count.”
“Everything boiled down to that moment … I’ll never forget this.”
“[David Ortiz] made my eyes water. Everyone thought I was crying. I thought my nose was bleeding. He’s somebody you don’t want to see running at you full speed.”
“I actually got up and threw in the cage to keep my mind on something else,” he said, referring to when he went to the clubhouse after the sixth inning.
This is Buchholz’s second no-hitter, having thrown one in high school. His parents are back home, as they weren’t able to make it to the stadium.
“My dream is just to play … I never thought I would be a pitcher growing up. I thought I would play shortstop.”
“I’m going to try to excel to my fullest.”
“I tried not to think about it. I looked at the scoreboard. I saw what was going on. That’s when the fans got into it.”
“I just tried to concentrate pitch to pitch, not the batter … tried to act like each pitch was the last one I was going to throw. I wanted this to happen this year. And I’ve reached my goals so far … I couldn’t see why I couldn’t reach this one.”
“A lot of negative self talk that we go through, saying ‘OK, don’t hang this.’ It’s hard not to think about it. … I made the pitch I needed to make.”
Curt Schilling is one of Buchholz’s biggest idols, and he’s always been there to help Buchholz out. “Schilling said ‘Good job, is about all you can really say,'” said Buchholz.
“That’s all I had left,” he said, referring to the energy the crowd was giving to him. “My adrenaline came back up.”
Nothing more to be said here… no-hitter. Let’s revel in it!
CLAY BUCHHOLZ throughout the years:
Draft Day! Who Did the Red Sox Draft? June 7, 2005
Top 5 Prospects July 29, 2006
Bright Spots for Sox Pitching in Minors August 20, 2006
Buchholz: Remember the Name May 24, 2007
Buchholz Up To Pawtucket July 14, 2007
Buchholz earns first career win in spot start August 17, 2007