BALTIMORE — The Legend of Clay Buchholz grew last night in Boston’s 7-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.

And that’s saying something because the 23-year-old right-hander tossed a no-hitter only last Saturday against the Orioles in just his second big-league start.

But last night, the Red Sox summoned him from the bullpen to start the sixth inning with the game tied, an unaccustomed role for Buchholz.

He got himself into quick trouble, filling the bases with none out on a walk, a ground single through the right side by Tike Redman and another walk.

Buchholz, though, didn’t crumble. Hardly. If the Red Sox ever had any questions about his mental makeup, they received an answer that left them giddy with Buchholz’ big-league promise as he calmly worked his way out of trouble.

Buchholz slipped a slider for a called strike past Miguel Tejada, the Orioles’ cleanup batter, got Tejada to swing and miss a 94-mph neck-high-and-tight heater, and then dropped an 0-and-2 curveball over the plate. Tejada grounded that one to Mike Lowell, who started a third-to-home-to-first double play.

And then, with runners at second and third and two outs, he fooled Kevin Millar with a dynamite 3-and-2 changeup for a swinging strike three, ending the inning.

Buchholz then calmly worked two more scoreless, spotless innings. And when Coco Crisp (infield single, stolen base) scored on a single by pinch hitter Jason Varitek off Danys Baez in the ninth, Buchholz improved to 3-0 in as many appearances for Boston (two starts, one relief outing), thanks to Jonathan Papelbon’s dominant save (number 34).

The Red Sox had several heroes in this one: Crisp hit a three-run homer; David Ortiz’s solo shot tied the game at 6-6 in the sixth; Crisp ran down a ball in deep center; Kevin Cash took over for injured Doug Mirabelli behind the plate; and Kyle Snyder rescued ineffective Tim Wakefield. But the star of the game was Buchholz.

“He has very good mound presence,” said Varitek, the team’s starting catcher and captain.

“Impressive,” added Wakefield. “Bases loaded and no outs and he gets out of it? You can’t ask for more than that.”

The Sox, meanwhile, want to manage Buchholz’s innings, not wanting him to throw too many as they develop him. So they brought him in to start an inning, and they were thrilled to see him work out of danger, another huge step in his confidence and development as a big-league pitcher.

“To win the game, that was huge,” said Francona. “But he threw a pitch to Millar with such conviction at a point in the game where if you leave something out over the plate it’s trouble. He did some things [in the inning] that were really good to see.”

Buchholz, who said his life has been a bit “crazy” since he tossed his no-no, took a little while to settle into the unaccustomed relief role.

“The most nerve-racking thing was they threw me out there when it was tied [6-6]. It was good, but at the same time I was a little bit nervous about it because I didn’t want to lose this game for everybody,” said Buchholz. “Not as nervous as the ninth inning [of the no-hitter]. Not the same type of nervousness.”

But things did get hairy early on. After Buchholz issued a leadoff walk and fell behind Redman, 2 and 0, pitching coach John Farrell strolled to the mound.

“I was overthrowing a little bit,” said Buchholz, who beat the Angels on Aug. 17 in his first start in the majors.

Farrell told him to relax. Still, it took two more batters, and the double-play grounder, for Buchholz to calm down a bit.

And then came the Millar at-bat. Buchholz knew he was by no means out of the woods yet with two runners in scoring position. The count went full. And this is where Buchholz showed he has no fear.

“I put down [the signal] for a slider, but he didn’t want to throw that. Then I put down [the signal] for a fastball. He didn’t want that and he stepped off [the rubber], and I knew he wanted the changeup,” said Cash. “When I caught him [in Pawtucket] his strikeout pitch was a changeup more often than his other pitches. But he had left a changeup up to Redman.”

But Buchholz , at the tender age of 23, knew what he wanted to throw. He wanted to throw Millar a changeup. He did.

“He made the pitch and it disappeared,” said Cash. “Forget the no-hitter. Not many 23-year-old kids will come up here and throw a 3-and-2 changeup. He’s not scared.”

Maybe it’s too soon to pencil Buchholz in for a bullpen spot in the postseason. But the vision has to be a pleasant sight to behold for the organization.

As for Buchholz, he’s going to try not to get too far ahead of himself.

“I’m going to try to stay on an even keel because I know how things can change on one pitch,” said Buchholz.

The kid, though, can change speeds, he can throw hard and he clearly does not get rattled when the pressure is on. What’s not to like about Buchholz, a legend already after three big-league appearances.

skrasner@projo.com