Buchholz bowls 'em over with charity event
BOSTON -- For Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz, the strikes have come in bunches during an impressive first-half campaign this season. On Monday evening, however, he invited several teammates to try and throw strikes of another variety in the third annual Buchholz Bowl fundraiser.
The event, which benefits the Clay Buchholz Foundation's efforts to provide health, educational and sports opportunities for needy children, saw Buchholz, his wife Lindsay and several of his Boston teammates participate in a celebrity bowling tournament at Lucky Strike, located just across the street from Fenway Park.
The non-profit organization notably aims to support pediatric cancer treatment and autism spectrum disorders.
"Me and my wife, our family, cancer's struck us near and dear to some family members," Buchholz said. "It didn't take long at all for us to decide what the event was going to be. When [the opportunity] came up to get involved with this event, it was no questions asked. We jumped right into it.
"It's all about the kids and their families for this event. We're blessed to be able to do something like this and have a cause that's this big and help out with it and try to get as much money as we can to find a cure for cancer, and then also make families feel a little bit more comfortable in the situation."
Buchholz, however, abstained from competing on the lanes for fear of jeopardizing his impressive season with an injury.
"You won't see me bowling tonight," the right-hander said. "The last thing I need to do to get hurt and have to go down that road again. I'm going to stay off the lanes."
Attendees included at least 13 of Buchholz's teammates, including utility man Brock Holt, who was named to this year's American League All-Star team as a reserve infielder during the event.
"We want to be there for our teammates on the field and off the field," Holt said. "So any time we have events, our teammates have events, we want to be present to support them and what they're passionate about. So we're all happy to be here."
Guests were treated to a reception along with silent and live auctions that offered sports memorabilia and a handful of other items.
As for Buchholz, his bowling skills remain something of an unknown. But his performance heading into the All-Star break -- highlighted by a one-run, complete-game outing on the Fourth of July -- has cemented his role as ace of the Boston rotation.
"The last month, month and a half, it's been fun to go out there," said Buchholz. "When you're pitching well, that's how it should be. Hopefully I'll keep it going in the second half."