Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz will make another minor league rehab start on Friday for either Pawtucket or Portland, according to manager John Farrell. He’s scheduled to throw 55 pitches. If he continues to progress, he’ll make another minor league start next Wednesday. It helps that the PawSox’s magic number is four to clinch a playoff spot.
“He came out of the outing the other day fine physically, so he’ll go through a normal five-day work cycle,” Farrell said.
Buchholz will continue to mix in a few simulated bullpen sessions where he’ll have a batter in the box. Farrell called it a "modified" bullpen.
Buchholz has been out of the rotation since June 18. He began his minor league rehab stint Sunday with Single-A Lowell and tossed 38 pitches in 2/3 of an inning and allowed three runs (one earned) with three walks and one strikeout.
* The Red Sox made a minor trade Tuesday afternoon, acquiring outfielder Quintin Berry from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen. Berry, 28, spent the majority of last season with the Detroit Tigers, where he hit .258 in 94 games. He was also a perfect 21-for-21 in stolen-base attempts for the Tigers. This season, Berry began the season with Toledo and eventually played for Triple-A Omaha in the Royals system. In 48 games for the Storm Chasers, he hit .222 with 13 stolen bases.
“We felt like we needed to have more of a pinch-runner at our disposal at some point in September and potentially beyond. That’s not to say he won’t get on the field in other ways, but more of a pure base-stealer was the one area that we felt we could upgrade,” Farrell said.
Mortensen began the season with the Red Sox and went 1-2 with a 5.34 ERA in 24 relief appearances before he was assigned to Pawtucket on July 4. He made six relief appearances for the PawSox before being moved in August to the rotation, where he posted a 2-0 record with a 1.00 ERA in five starts. Overall with Pawtucket, he was 3-0 with a 2.47 in 14 games (six starts).
