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The Red Sox are about to receive a huge boost before their playoff push.
If all goes according to plan (which is a big if, considering the timeline on Buchholz's injury to this point), the Boston ace is scheduled to rejoin the Red Sox on Sept. 4 for the series finale against the Detroit Tigers according to Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald.
"If he’s at four innings, we’d certainly be open-minded to him starting those four innings (in the majors)," Farrell said. "If they’re going to be four quality innings, I’d rather they be here than in Fort Myers. If he comes back and pitches as he was, it’d be a great pickup."
Buchholz has been sidelined since June 8 because of inflammation in the bursa sac of his right shoulder.
Before he went on the disabled list, Buchholz was off to one of the strongest starts in franchise history since Pedro Martinez in '99 and '00, posting a 9-0 record, 1.71 ERA with 1.02 WHIP in his first 84.1 innings over his first 12 starts.
In his first rehab start for Single-A Lowell on Sunday, Buchholz struggled. The right threw only 19 of his 38 pitches for strikes and topped out at 89 MPH while allowing three runs in 0.2 innings of work.
"I wasn’t trying to throw as hard as I could. I was trying to find the zone," Buchholz told the Boston Herald. "I was up a little bit, but I got done what I needed to. I hadn’t thrown 40 pitches all together yet through all this stuff. That was something I needed to do."