A day after Clay Buchholz became baseball's first six-game winner, one analyst is accusing the Boston Red Sox pitcher of doctoring baseballs. Dirk Hayhurst with Sportsnet — a former pitcher, current author and analyst — spotted something on Buchholz' arm in Wednesday's 10-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Sportsnet published this photo Thursday with the headline "Is Red Sox Buchholz doctoring ball?"
And here's what Hayhurst said Wednesday:
Forget the hair, I just saw video of Buchholz loading the ball with some Eddie Harris worthy slick'em painted up his left forearm. Wow.
— Dirk Hayhurst (@TheGarfoose) May 2, 2013
The Red Sox, as you can imagine, weren't very happy with Hayhurst's haymaker. Manager John Farrell and Buchholz both denied the accusations. Farrell told Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe:
"It bothers me immensely when someone is going to make an accusation, and in this case cheating, because they've seen something on TV. He's got rosin on his arm. I think rosin was designed to get a grip. But the fact is, he's got it on his arm. I've seen some people who have brought photographs to me. They're false, The fact is the guy's 6-0; he's pitched his tail off. If people are going to point to him cheating? Unfounded."
Worth noting: Nobody has asked to check any ball Buchholz has thrown in six starts.
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) May 2, 2013
Another for the "worth noting" category: Buchholz was named the American League pitcher of the month for April, with a 1.19 ERA and 39 strikeouts to go with his 5--0 record, which is now 6-0 after his first May victory.
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