David Dellucci makes a leaping catch Friday night for Toronto in front of a video screen image of pitcher Ricky Romero.

AP photo / The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese

TORONTO –– Clay Buchholz stood in the visitors clubhouse at Rogers Centre on Friday afternoon and was completely focused.

The Red Sox pitching prospect grabbed a pearly white baseball from his locker and began to shadow pitch. He was gripping the ball with all his different pitches and going through his delivery. He’d stop and then repeat.

Buchholz had every reason to concentrate because he was only a few hours from making his 2009 debut for the Sox after being recalled from Pawtucket. His focus carried over into his start, and he proved to a lot of people that he can handle major-league hitters as he led the Red Sox to a 4-1 victory over the Blue Jays.

The right-hander worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed only one run on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts. He threw 103 pitches, 66 for strikes.

It was his first victory in the majors since July 23, 2008, at Seattle.

“It feels like three years,” he said after Friday’s win.

For his victory, he gets a trip back to Pawtucket, where he was optioned after the game.

“I knew the situation before I came up,” he said. “I’m just thankful for the opportunity to be here and play with these guys again. The starting rotation they have here now is pretty unbelievable. It is what it is. It’s not my timetable. I know where I want to be and this is definitely it. I’ll bide some more time, go back to Pawtucket and help that team win.”

Friday night, Buchholz was in control from the start. He was able to command and attack with his fastball to both sides of the plate. His changeup was working and his breaking pitches were effective

“He was so good,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “Considering the circumstances, he had poise and he had good stuff. He commanded the game and it was very gratifying for us.”

Fortunately for Buchholz, his teammates gave him an early two-run cushion on Kevin Youkilis’ two-run homer in the top of the first inning. The Jays pushed a run across in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Boston answered in the top of the fifth when David Ortiz provided a two-run double for a 4-1 lead.

“It was a big sigh of relief when Youk hit that home run,” said Buchholz. “You can relax a little bit more whenever you’re up. But you can’t relax too much, because two hits can put it back to a tie game. I felt good pitching with a lead.”

Buchholz left the game with two outs and two runners on in the bottom of the sixth inning and was given a standing ovation from the Red Sox in attendance. Ortiz was the first player to greet him at the top step of the dugout.

At times he appeared a little jittery on the mound, and when he did, he was able to step off the rubber and regain his composure before making his next pitch. That’s something that was missing a year ago when he was struggling.

While Buchholz was with the PawSox, his goal was to regain his confidence, and he was able to do that. Now he feels he can handle anything. Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, who is on this trip with the club, agrees.

“Clay’s done a really good job,” said Epstein. “Because of his inconsistencies last year, we felt it was important to build up the depth of starting pitching on this club, and the consequence of that was Clay had to start the year at Triple-A even though he pitched really well during spring training.”

If it wasn’t for his performance in 2008, he would have had a spot in the rotation at the start of the regular season.

“Instead of sulking, he went down to Triple-A and continued to work on his game,” said Epstein. “His mental approach on the mound has really been refined and now is a strength of his. Last year it was a weakness for him. His stuff has been top-notch. His command has really improved. He worked really hard down there and we’re proud of him.”

Epstein called Friday’s start a reward and said he wanted to make sure Buchholz knows he’s still a part of the organization’s future.

“He’s earned this. It hasn’t been easy to find him a start, but with the All-Star break this was a good opportunity to give him this reward and see if he can win us a game.”

The Blue Jays might also like to see Buchholz win some games, wearing a Toronto uniform.

Although Epstein and manager Terry Francona, have said that the timing made Friday a perfect time for Buchholz to get a spot start so that the members of the starting rotation could get an extra day of rest, it’s at least coincidental that he made the start in Toronto while the Blue Jays are shopping their ace, Roy Halladay.

The Red Sox have contacted the Jays about Halladay, and Buchholz is one player Toronto would want as part of any trade package. The Red Sox, the Phillies and the Rays are considered the leading candidates to land Halladay.

Speaking in not-so-general terms, Epstein said the opportunity to acquire such a talent as Halladay is intriguing, but also can be detrimental to an organization’s development system.

“It’s always tempting, but it always comes at great costs,” said Epstein.

Epstein said he would rather develop from within.

“We’re lucky we have a talented starting pitching core here that’s doing a great job and has kept us where we are in the standings. And we have a lot of talented young pitchers in the minor leagues, one of which is pitching for us tonight. We’ll see what happens on the trade front. Things are always tempting, but those temptations come at a cost.”

Buchholz proved Friday night that he’s still a valuable commodity.

jmcdonal@projo.com