PAWTUCKET — There will be better nights for Clay Buchholz.

Which, as predictions go, is about as daring as declaring that the sun will set in the West tonight.

The hard-throwing, 22-year-old right-hander is a hot prospect. An ace-in-waiting. Or at least in training. Unless most scouts in baseball are grossly in error, he is a young phenom. And, while somewhat less than phenomenal in his Triple-A debut last night at McCoy Stadium, Buchholz also showed ample evidence of why the Red Sox — and just about everybody else in baseball — are high on his chances for future stardom.

Although he gave up three runs on five hits — including a line-drive homer to dead center — in three innings, and left with his team trailing, 3-2, Buchholz also displayed impressive speed while striking out four batters.

The kid can throw hard — his four-seam fastball came in consistently at 93 or 94 miles an hour — and he also has a paralyzing curve ball to go with a slider and a very effective changeup.

“I was excited to see his stuff,” said Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson, voicing the sentiments of the crowd of more than 10,000 who turned out to see the lean (6-3, 190), young Texan.

The highly-regarded Buchholz has drawn crowds wherever he takes the mound, attracting Red Sox fans eager to get a look at him.

After a winning outing for Double-A Portland, Maine, in Manchester, N.H., Buchholz said he “got a big standing ovation coming off the field. The opposing team was pretty upset about it.”

Neither Buchholz nor Johnson was upset about his abbreviated outing last night.

“I felt I was successful, as far as attacking the (strike) zone,” Buchholz said.

“I thought he did a good job for his first time out in Triple-A,” said Johnson, “especially considering he hasn’t been out there for a couple of weeks.”

The plan was for him to go three innings, or throw 50 pitches — whichever came first.

As it turned out, the two coincided exactly, as Buchholz retired Pedro Swann to end the third inning with his 50th pitch of the night.

While that part of the plan worked out perfectly, the rest didn’t go quite so smoothly.

“I left a couple of pitches up, and they hit ’em,” Buchholz said.

Randy Ruiz hit a two-run homer on a first-pitch fastball in the second that Buchholz said may have been the “hardest ball ever hit off me. It definitely got out in a hurry.”

Buchholz got off to a good start in what was his first start since June 30 — a game in which he was pulled after throwing five hitless innings for the Sea Dogs.

And why, you may well wonder, was that?

Because there is grand plan. A big picture, if you will, for the Red Sox’s next big pitcher.

Buchholz was yanked, even though he had a no-hitter going, because the Sea Dogs had been instructed by the brain trust in Boston to use him in relief before he was scheduled to pitch out of the bullpen in the Futures game in San Francisco on July 8, part of the All-Star festivities in San Francisco.

So he threw one-and-a-third innings for Portland on July 4, then another inning in the Futures game, in which he struck out two but gave up a solo homer.

That’s been it for the month of July, which was why Buchholz was on a strict pitch count last night.

“He’s only thrown a couple of innings this month,” Johnson said before the game. “All we’re doing is getting him back on track. He’ll throw five innings, or 75 pitches, in his next start, and then off he goes. It’s the smart thing to do with somebody we think a lot of.”

There are lots of reasons for the Boston brass to think very highly of Buchholz.

He brings with him from Portland a 7-2 record, and an Eastern League-leading earned-run average of 1.77. He also was leading the E.L. with 116 strikeouts in 86.2 innings, while walking only 22.

Buchholz set a Portland franchise record by striking out eight straight batters against Binghamton on May 11. The previous record of six in a row was held by none other Josh Beckett, Boston’s current pitching ace.

Boston’s third choice (No. 42 overall) in the June, 2005 draft — he was a compensatory pick for the Sox having lost Pedro Martinez to free agency — Buchholz was the organization’s minor-league pitcher of the year last season after posting a combined 11-4 record, with a 2.42 ERA and 140 strikeouts in 119 innings, in 24 starts for class-A clubs Greenville and Wilmington.

As for last night’s start, Buchholz fanned leadoff batter Chris Roberson on three pitches, got the putout when Joe Thurston hit a grounder to first, and then struck out Jason Jaramillo.

After retiring the first batter in the second on a fly to right, Buchholz gave up a sharp single to right to Brennan King, who was swinging on the first pitch, and then was victimized when Pawtucket first baseman Jeff Bailey, trying to backhand a grounder hit by Swann, booted the ball, allowing King to come all the way around to score.

Then, on the next pitch, designated hitter Ruiz lined his two-run shot to center.

That was all the scoring for the Lynx against Buchholz, although Roberson had a single in the second and Gary Burnham had a one-out double in the third, when Buchholz struck out Jaramillo (for the second time) and King.

Still, his pitching left Sox fans with an adrenalin rush — especially considering the possibility that Buchholz could be called up to Boston in September, perhaps to pitch out of the bullpen.

“I’ve been a starter my whole life,” he said, “but if they want me to go up and come out of the bullpen, I’ll be glad to do it.”