Pitching coach John Farrell and Jason Varitek meet on the mound with Clay Buchholz in the fifth inning.

Journal / Glenn Osmundson

BOSTON — Never mind Sox Appeal. The Red Sox had their very own reality show at Fenway last night, as real as it gets.

Clay Buchholz was sent to Pawtucket in late May, for a mid-season makeover. The Sox wanted him to spruce up his fastball some, and flaunt it a little more regularly.

Nothing dramatic, mind you — just a little tinkering.

Blessed with two-plus secondary pitches — an overhand curve and a devastating changeup — Buchholz too often forgot about his fastball, which he throws in the mid-90s.

While in Pawtucket, the Sox adjusted his arm slot a bit and preached the value of getting ahead with his fastball — the better to utilize the curve and change.

In his first major-league start in almost two months last night, Buchholz showed himself to be a work in progress. He went five innings in the Sox’ 7-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles and was saddled with the defeat, giving up four runs on five hits.

Against the same team he no-hit last Sept. 1 in his second major-league start, Buchholz had two bad innings — his first and last.

In the first, he exhibited little feel, falling behind to nearly every hitter and walking three. The Orioles jumped to a quick 2-0 lead, and Buchholz needed 29 pitches to record the first three outs.

“I thought in the first inning he looked nervous, a little jumpy,” manager Terry Francona said. “After talking to him when he came out, he was feeling like he had a lot to prove.”

“I think, for the most part, it was nerves,” Buchholz confirmed. “I hadn’t been that nervous in a long time that I recall. So I was rushing a little bit to the plate coming out of the windup and the stretch. I was trying to impress.

“Being down in Triple A, knowing that I was sent down there to work on some stuff (and) trying to show that I got better down there — I guess I was trying a little bit too hard.”

Buchholz rebounded nicely after the first. Starting with the final out of the first, Buchholz retired 13 of 14 hitters through the fourth inning.

In the third, putting the fastball to good use, Buchholz struck out the side. In fact, in one impressive stretch, Buchholz struck out four of five hitters from the third through the fourth.

“I thought his fastball had some explosion to it,” Francona said. “He threw it with some finish, real good velocity.”

But in the fifth, Buchholz again lost command. After Brian Roberts tripled home Brandon Fahey to start the inning, Buchholz sandwiched two walks around a sacrifice fly before getting Kevin Millar on a called third strike.

That was it for Buchholz, who left having thrown 107 pitches, 65 for strikes.

“I felt good overall,” he said. “I felt I got stronger as the game went on as far as velocity and everything else. … It was just being out there for the first time in a little while, just trying to prove a point and trying to let everyone know that this is where I want to be. This is what I want to do for a long time.”

In a sense, Buchholz is a victim of his own success. Last September’s no-hitter was such a revelation that it set unreasonably high expectations for him.

But it wasn’t — and isn’t — that easy.

Earlier this season, Buchholz showed flashes. But too often Buchholz was hit around as teams sat on his secondary pitches. Blessed with an overpowering fastball, he was hurting himself by not throwing it often enough.

A torn fingernail gave the Sox the opportunity to send him to Triple-A finishing school.

The Sox are in the enviable position of having the luxury of bringing Buchholz along at their own pace. While other teams feel compelled to force-feed their best pitching prospects, the Sox aren’t as desperate.

Even as he worked on his repertoire, the Sox had Justin Masterson step in and occupy Buchholz’s spot in the rotation. In those nine games Masterson started, the Sox went 5-4.

Moreover, the Sox got a number of quality starts from Bartolo Colon while Buchholz retooled. In a few weeks, Colon will be ready to rejoin the rotation and the Sox again will have one more starter than they need.

If Buchholz can command better than he did last night, he’ll keep his spot in the rotation.

“Just repeating his pitches and getting himself into a position where he’s ahead in the count more than not will certainly be beneficial,” Francona said. “There’s a lot to like.”

If he struggles, the Sox will go with the experienced Colon for the final two months.

Buchholz has options remaining. And, so, too, do the Red Sox.

smcadam@projo.com