September 1, 2007: Red Sox rookie Clay Buchholz no-hits Orioles in his second big-league start

“Doesn’t matter if he throws a no-hitter, he’s going back down.” That’s what Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona said when right-hander Clay Buchholz was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket for his major-league debut, a spot start on August 17, 2007, three days after turning 23.1

Buchholz pitched well in that game, allowing three runs in six innings, and got the win, beating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Fenway Park, 8-4. He was then returned to the Pawtucket Red Sox, as intended.

He got the call again during the third inning of Pawtucket’s game on the night of August 31. With less than 24 hours’ notice, he was summoned to Boston and asked to start the next evening’s game, against the Baltimore Orioles.

“I had to gather my stuff and get here,” said Buchholz, a Texas native whom the Red Sox had selected with a compensation pick in the first round of the June 2005 draft.2 “I didn’t sleep very well.”3 He was joined by five other players – including outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Brandon Moss – on the day that rosters expanded, September 1.4

With just one start and six innings of experience, Buchholz became the first Red Sox rookie to throw a no-hitter and only the third pitcher in the American or National League with a no-hitter in one of his first two appearances.5

The Red Sox entered September 2007 with a relatively comfortable five-game lead in the AL East Division. They had held first place in the division since April 18. The visiting Orioles were 20 games back but had beaten the Red Sox the night before, 9-8, after seeing a 9-3 lead nearly evaporate. After Boston scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth and had the tying run on second with one out, a double play gave the O’s the win. A week and a half earlier, on August 22, Baltimore had made unwanted headlines in a 30-3 loss to the Texas Rangers, the first time an AL or NL team had allowed 30 runs in a game since the nineteenth century.6

On Saturday night, aiming to snap a four-game losing streak, Francona started Buchholz. Dave Trembley, who had taken over the reins for the Orioles in mid-June, started 23-year-old Garrett Olson (1-2), a left-hander who was a newcomer as well, pitching in just his sixth major-league game.

Buchholz hit right fielder Nick Markakis with a pitch in the first inning and Olson walked DH David Ortiz. Neither pitcher allowed a base hit.

The Red Sox scored once in the bottom of the second. First baseman Kevin Youkilis walked leading off. With one out, right fielder Bobby Kielty singled up the middle and Youkilis went first to third. He scored when the Orioles were unable to turn an around-the-horn double play on speedy center fielder Coco Crisp’s grounder to third baseman Scott Moore.

Buchholz retired Baltimore in order in the second, third, and fourth innings. The closest the O’s came to a hit was center fielder Corey Patterson’s groundout to open the fourth, fielded by Youkilis and thrown to Buchholz covering first.

With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, the Red Sox scored three more runs when Ortiz followed three consecutive singles – a line drive that skittered by second baseman Brian Roberts, a bunt toward third, and an infield single – with a double off the wall in left-center. It was a 4-0 game.

Buchholz began to dig himself a hole by walking the two first batters he faced in the top of the fifth – Orioles DH Kevin Millar and first baseman Aubrey Huff – but he struck out Moore and then got outs on a 6-4 force play and a fly ball to right field. It was a 23-pitch inning. On Boston’s NESN-TV, commentator Jerry Remy said, “If he keeps his changeup down, it is just about unhittable.”7

Baltimore’s Roberts walked to lead off the sixth, but Buchholz picked him off first. Patterson flied out deep to Crisp, and Markakis struck out. The crowd reaction after Crisp routinely caught Patterson’s ball for the second out prompted broadcaster Remy to say, “Fans are aware of what’s going on … even though it’s early.”8

The Red Sox doubled their lead to 8-0 with four runs in the bottom of the sixth. After Olson struck out left fielder Moss to get the first out, he was relieved by right-hander Rocky Cherry. Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo doubled down the line, into the left-field corner. Lugo took third on second baseman Dustin Pedroia’s groundout back to Cherry. Ortiz reached on an eight-pitch walk.

Third baseman Mike Lowell doubled off the wall in left, just fair by a foot, scoring Lugo and pushing Ortiz to third. Youkilis homered into the first row of the Green Monster seats, a three-run homer, his 15th of the season. Brian Burres replaced Cherry and got catcher Jason Varitek to pop up to third for the final out.

With two pitching changes, and all the offense, the Red Sox had spent a lot of time at bat. Broadcaster Don Orsillo noted that they’d kept Buchholz waiting in the dugout for 22 minutes in the fourth inning, 15 in the fifth, and 26 minutes in the sixth. Those watching television saw a graphic noting that Buchholz had yet to allow a hit through the first six.9

In the top of the seventh, the ball didn’t leave the infield. Pedroia, headed for AL Rookie of the Year honors, made the defensive play of the game, taking several steps to his right on a ball hit up the middle, diving, snaring the ball while falling, scrambling up, and firing to first base to get Miguel Tejada.10 Buchholz then got a strikeout and a foul popup to first base.11

Through seven innings, Buchholz had thrown 92 pitches. The most he had thrown in any game in 2007, in the majors or minors, was 98. There were still two innings to go. “It could be an historic night tonight at Fenway Park,” said Orsillo. Referring to the Red Sox catcher, Remy said, “Varitek has called a brilliant game behind the plate tonight. I mean, you know that he’s not shaking Jason off for anything – the rookie coming up.”12

In the eighth, Buchholz got a fly ball out to right-center, struck out Baltimore catcher J.R. House on three pitches, and on the first pitch he threw to left fielder Jay Payton was rewarded with a high hopper right back to himself. Buchholz threw to first base for the third out. It was a 10-pitch inning, putting him at 102.

Red Sox GM Theo Epstein and scouting director Jason McLeod were in the GM’s box “fretting” about the pitch count. Epstein said after the game, “He never threw more than 98 in his life and we couldn’t let him throw 20 more pitches than he had ever thrown. Tito would have had to take him out and blame me. He couldn’t go more than 120. We’re talking about a career here.”13

The Red Sox added their 9th and 10th runs in the bottom of the eighth. Pedroia led off with a single. Ortiz flied out to right. Two more singles followed, both to left, by Lowell and Youkilis. Varitek struck out. Ellsbury, who had come in to play left field (Moss moving to right and Kielty departing at the top of the inning, hit a two-run double off the National League scoreboard in left-center. Crisp flied out.

As the Red Sox took the field in the top of the ninth, hoping to help Buchholz close out his no-hitter, NESN chose not to take a commercial break. The 36,819 in attendance were keyed up as well.14 

Buchholz struck out Roberts, swinging, on five pitches.15 Patterson lined out to center. And then on a 1-and-2 pitch to Markakis, Buchholz dropped in a curveball for a called third strike.

For the first time in history, a Red Sox rookie had thrown a no-hitter.16

Buchholz said, “This is what you dream about growing up, and just being in the big leagues and all. You dream about perfect games and no-hitters and stuff like that. It’s unreal. … I don’t even have a word for it. You’d think we won a World Series or something, but it was an incredible moment in my life and one that I’ll never forget.”17

It was the third no-hitter Jason Varitek had called in 11 seasons with the Red Sox. He had caught Hideo Nomo’s no-hitter against the Orioles in 2001 and Derek Lowe’s against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2002. In 2008 he caught Jon Lester against the Kansas City Royals for a fourth no-hitter. As of 2024, Varitek and Carlos Ruiz – who caught four no-hitters for the Philadelphia Phillies from 2010 through 2015 – were tied among AL and NL catchers for most career no-hitters.18

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and a video of the NESN broadcast of the game available on YouTube. Thanks for assistance to Malcolm Allen and John Eisenberg.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200709010.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B09010BOS2007.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgtwuJKGres

Photo credit: Clay Buchholz, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Dan Shaughnessy, “Rookie Pitches to Glory,” Boston Globe, September 2, 2007: A1, C9.

2 Buchholz was selected with the 42nd overall pick, which the Red Sox had received as compensation when Pedro Martínez signed with the New York Mets as a free agent in December 2004.

3 Shaughnessy.

4 Pitcher Tim Wakefield had a sore back and needed to miss the Friday night start; Julián Tavárez started in his stead. A couple of Boston’s outfielders – Manny Ramírez and J.D. Drew – benefited from time to heal. Also called up were pitchers Craig Breslow and Bryan Corey and shortstop Royce Clayton. Moss had been named MVP of the 2007 PawSox.

5 Bumpus Jones of the Cincinnati Reds debuted by no-hitting the visiting Pittsburghs, 7-1, on October 15, 1892 – the final game of the season. The one run scored on a walk and Jones’s subsequent throwing error. On August 11, 1991, Wilson Álvarez of the Chicago White Sox no-hit the Orioles when visiting Memorial Stadium in his second career start.

6 Manny Randhawa, “Teams to Score 20 or More Runs in a Game,” MLB.com, June 24, 2023, https://www.mlb.com/news/most-runs-scored-in-an-mlb-game.

7 Boston Red Sox television broadcast (NESN-TV), “09/01/2007 Baltimore at Boston,” YouTube video (BrunoSox23), 3:16:26, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgtwuJKGres. Accessed August 2, 2024.

8 “09/01/2007 Baltimore at Boston.”

9 “09/01/2007 Baltimore at Boston.” The graphic informed viewers that the last rookie to throw six hitless innings had been Aaron Sele on August 28, 1993. In the seventh, Sele yielded a couple of hits. By game’s end it was five hits, but he got a 2-1 win over Kansas City. Buchholz said after the game that he had gone into the batting cage behind the Boston dugout “to throw to get my mind off” what was unfolding. See Gordon Edes, “Second to None,” Boston Globe, September 2, 2007: C1, C12.

10 “That was the turn of the game for me,” Buchholz told NESN’s Tina Cervasio in a postgame on-field interview. Jerry Remy had already praised the play several times. “09/01/2007 Baltimore at Boston.” “I thought there was no chance,” said Crisp. “The ball was hit up the middle, it looked like it was coming to me.” Frank Dell’Apa, “Performance Is a Hit with Teammates,” Boston Globe, September 2, 2007: C12. Tejada said, “To me, that was the best play they made the whole night,” and Buchholz said it was “one of the best plays that I’ve ever seen in 10 years anywhere.” Jeff Zrebiec, “Rookie No-Hits Reeling O’s,” Baltimore Sun, September 2, 2007: D1.

11 Observing one of baseball’s taboos, the telecasters said things such as noting that fans were “seeing something special tonight” and, at the end of seven, “It’s all zeroes across the board for the Orioles.” Joe Castiglione was equally careful on radio, according to Gordon Edes. As the Red Sox batted in the bottom of the seventh, the camera showed Buchholz seated in the dugout all by himself. “I didn’t go anywhere near him,” said manager Francona. “Neither did anybody else.” The TV camera then panned to the scoreboard, with a closeup showing no runs, no hits, no errors for Baltimore as the broadcaster said, “We’ll show you what’s going on here tonight.” Edes.

12 “09/01/2007 Baltimore at Boston.”

13 Dell’Apa.

14 One not in attendance was the author of this article, who otherwise would have had a streak of seeing every Red Sox home no-hitter from Dave Morehead in September 1965 through the 2023 season. Out for dinner with family and a couple of friends, he watched the final inning on a television at Cambridge’s Summer Shack restaurant.  

15 Jerry Remy twice noted that the Red Sox infielders were playing fairly deep. “Do not bunt,” he said a couple of times during the top of the ninth, reflecting another of baseball’s unwritten customs. 

16 Billy Rohr had come as close as one could get on April 14, 1967, throwing 8 2/3 innings of no-hit ball against the New York Yankees before losing the bid to an otherwise-unremarkable single to Elston Howard. Rohr won the game, 3-0, a one-hitter in his big-league debut.

17 Zrebiec. The Red Sox did, in fact, win the World Series before the end of October, sweeping the Colorado Rockies in four games. Buchholz spent 10 seasons in Boston, winning 81 games and making two AL All-Star teams. He won 17 games and finished second in the AL with a 2.33 ERA in 2010 and had a 12-1 record for Boston’s 2013 World Series champions. Buchholz also pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Toronto Blue Jays in his 13-season career.

18 Sarah Langs, “Catchers With the Most No-Hitters,” MLB.com, August 1, 2023, https://www.mlb.com/news/catchers-with-the-most-no-hitters. Ruiz caught Roy Halladay’s perfect game against the Florida Marlins in May 2010, Halladay’s no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Division Series in October 2010, a combined no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves in September 2014, and Cole Hamels’ no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs in July 2015.