Clay Buchholz bolts off the mound to field a soft grounder hit by Brian Roberts.

BOSTON — Clay Buchholz has been called a lot of things during his three-year pro career, including dirty, nasty and filthy.

No, he’s not being compared to Pigpen because those terms are complimentary in the baseball world. Last night the rookie pitcher for the Boston Red Sox added another phrase to his already popular resumÉ — Mr. No-No.

In his second major-league start, Buchholz earned immortality by throwing a complete-game no-hitter — the first since Derek Lowe accomplished the feat against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on April 27, 2002 — to lead Boston to a 10-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park.

The last pitcher for the Red Sox to throw a no-hitter was Devern Hansack, who registered a five-inning no-no against the Orioles on Oct. 1, 2006. But Buchholz’s performance was quite different.

The 23-year-old right-hander said after his major-league debut on Aug. 17 against the Angels it was a day he’ll never forget.

Last night’s performance may have trumped that.

“If anybody would have said to me I’d come out [in my second big-league start] and did what happened today, I would have called them a liar,” he said. “This is what you dream about growing up. This is unreal.”

He became the first rookie in Red Sox history to officially toss a no-hitter, but the ironic thing is it almost didn’t happen.

At the start of the season the organization puts an dead-set allotment on pitchers’ innings, and Buchholz is close to that number. So, as he continued to keep the Orioles at bay last night, Red Sox management had a dilemma on its hands.

“That’s all we worry about,” said Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein. “Actually worrying about the pitch count took the edge off the nerves whether he would hold the no-hitter. We knew early we would be in a box late in the game. . . Tito called up a couple of times. This kid couldn’t go beyond 120, there was no way because he hadn’t thrown more than 98 before. Thank God it didn’t get to that.”

Red Sox manager Terry Francona didn’t want to be the one to make the decision to pull Buchholz from the game, thinking a prospect’s health and future are more important, so he wanted to put the decision in Epstein’s hands.

“Panic?,” said Francona. “I called Theo after the seventh. I called him after the eighth and he wasn’t a whole lot of help. We all felt the same. We feel like we have a huge responsibility to this young kid, but somebody else might have had to put a uniform on and come take him because that would have been very difficult.”

Red Sox pitcher Bryan Corey was told to warm up in the eighth inning because of Buchholz’s pitch count, and his allotment of innings he’s pitched this season. As the right-handed reliever began to throw, it was probably the first time in his career he didn’t want to enter the game.

“I’m glad he went [the distance],” said Corey, who was called up from Pawtucket yesterday afternoon. “That’s not a game I want to come in to. He had an opportunity to do something special, let him go.”

Buchholz’s batterymate Jason Varitek, who has caught three no-hitters in his major-league career concurred.

“Who ever would have yanked him might be walking out with a noose,” said Varitek. “He was really strong, especially with his fastball late in the game than he was early.”

All season Epstein and the development staff have kept a close eye on Buchholz’s development, and the GM admitted after last night’s game that there were a couple of times he thought the rookie had no-hit stuff.

That came to fruition last night.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for me,” he said. “It’s what you dream about coming up. I feel like nothing can go wrong right now. I’m going to try to keep everything on an even plane. It’s just a dream come true.”

As soon as Buchholz struck out the Orioles’ Nick Markakis (looking) for the final out to record the no-hitter, he was mobbed by his teammates.

David Ortiz came sprinting at Buchholz as part of the mob of teammates and the rookie caught a shoulder block that made his eyes water and he thought his nose was bleeding.

“They thought I was crying,” said Buchholz. “He someone you don’t want to see running at you full speed because it looked like it might hurt a little bit.”

To the contrary, this one will feel good for a long time.”

jmdonal@projo.com