"I started doing that last year," Buchholz said about getting batters to chase the pitch up in the zone. "I don't know why it took me 10 or 11 years to figure that could help, but it did."
Buchholz went 3-9 with a 5.91 ERA in 18 appearances (13 starts) through July 2 with the Red Sox. He went 5-1 with a 3.22 ERA in 19 appearances (eight starts) the rest of the way.
The tweaks he made to his mechanics certainly helped. But he also better mixed his four-seam fastball with his two-seam fastball. He threw the four-seamer 16.