Farrell says Buchholz's start to be pushed back

BALTIMORE -- Red Sox manager John Farrell said that Clay Buchholz's next start has been pushed back a few days, and the team is hoping the right-hander can pitch on Tuesday.

Buchholz has been battling neck/AC joint problems, and the Red Sox were hoping he'd start in Sunday's series finale with Baltimore. But Farrell said Jon Lester is going to start that game, with Buchholz moved back at least two days.

"Clay threw again today, with some slight improvement," Farrell said before Thursday's series opener in Baltimore. "There's still some soreness in that neck muscle, the base of the muscle, but everything in the AC joint is free and clear."

Still, Farrell wouldn't lock Buchholz into Tuesday. They want the 9-0 righty to feel fine before walking out to the mound for his next start.

"As we've stated before, we're going to make sure there are no symptoms felt," Farrell said. "So we're targeting more like Tuesday. This is basically two additional days. I wish I could say it's going to be a concrete thing for Tuesday, but we feel like two additional days with be [enough] time to get over the soreness. But we won't put him out there until he's symptom free."

Buchholz goes into that next start with a sparkling 1.71 ERA in his first 12 starts.