Clay pigeons

Buchholz, though, could have been excused for an exasperated sigh or two. Another ace? But Buchholz never complained, not after he allowed just two runs in six innings to the Yankees and suffered a loss, not after he allowed just two runs in seven innings to the Tigers and suffered a loss. Not after facing CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander in his last two starts.

Not even after he drew Halladay last night. And any thoughts of self-pity were surely gone after his outing. Buchholz both outlasted and outpitched the Blue Jays’ Cy Young contender, resulting in a 6-1 Red Sox win at Rogers Centre.

“I felt really good the last three times out,’’ Buchholz said. “Went up against, even tonight, went up against a guy that’s in the running for Cy Young candidate. It’s hard to go out there and expect a lot of run support, so you want to keep the runs to a minimum.

“It’s been a whole lot better for me this year being back up as far as getting outs in key situations and making some good pitches and minimizing damage.’’

That left the Sox with the potential for a rare road sweep with Jon Lester on the mound against Brett Cecil tonight. Plus, paired with a Rangers loss to the Twins last night, the win put the Sox ahead by a game in the wild-card standings - and continued with the education of a young pitcher who seems to be getting the hang of the major leagues.

“He didn’t let the game get going too quick,’’ manager Terry Francona said. “Threw a couple fastballs in, used his pitches. Again, we knew going into this game that we were going to have to play a good game, and we did. And he did a very good job.’’

Using his changeup as his out pitch, as he has most of this season, Buchholz survived two innings in which he allowed three base runners. In the fourth, he had runners on first and second with one out and one run in (on Vernon Wells’s single to right). But Buchholz struck out Randy Ruiz swinging, and got Edwin Encarnacion to ground to second to end the inning.