Red Sox rookie no-hits Orioles

BOSTON -- The call-up came up with all zeros.

Clay Buchholz threw a no-hitter in his second major league start, just hours after the Boston Red Sox promoted him from the minors.

The 23-year-old right-hander became the first Red Sox rookie to throw one, baffling the Baltimore Orioles with an assortment of curves, changeups and fastballs in a 10-0 victory Saturday.

“I sort of tried to zone everything out, but it was sort of hard with 40,000 people screaming,” he said. “I’m in a blur right now.”

The crowd stood through the entire ninth inning, cheering every pitch. A groan rose from the stands when Corey Patterson hit a line drive to center with one out, but Coco Crisp easily moved over to catch it.

Buchholz started Nick Markakis with a ball, then went ahead 1-2 when the batter fouled one off with a check swing. The crowd grew even louder, the flashes were constant, and Buchholz threw a 77-mph curveball, his 115th pitch, that Markakis watched go by.

Plate umpire Joe West hesitated, but catcher Jason Varitek rose from his crouch to run to the mound. The rest of the Red Sox soon joined him there, and David Ortiz enveloped the rookie in a bearhug.

“He’s somebody you don’t want to see running at you full speed,” Buchholz said.

Buchholz, who turned 23 on Aug. 14, walked three and struck out nine. Buchholz (2-0) became the 21st rookie to throw a no-hitter. The last one to do it was Florida’s Anibal Sanchez against Arizona last Sept. 6.

The closest the Orioles came to a hit was when Miguel Tejada led off the seventh with a sharp grounder up the middle. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia backhanded the ball and fired to first.