Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Clay Buchholz is in fine form against the Tampa Bay Rays last night.

AP / Mike Carlson

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Almost!

All Red Sox rookie pitcher Clay Buchholz could do was stare into the right-field seats as Akinori Iwamura’s two-run homer in the eighth-inning ruined a stellar pitching performance at Tropicana Field as the Rays beat Boston, 2-1, last night.

The only three hits Tampa Bay was able to register off the talented right-hander was a double by B.J. Upton in the fourth inning, a pinch-hit single by Dioner Navarro and a two-run homer by Akinori Iwamura in the eighth inning.

“He was good,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “He was throwing all of his pitches for strikes. He was changing speeds. He just left one breaking ball over the plate. … I thought Clay was great. He just gave up a home run when we didn’t need him to.”

Other than those three hits, Buchholz was just as good — if not better — than he was during his history-making performance last year.

“You could see as the game progressed he was coming off the mound with jump,” said Francona. “I don’t mean he was jumping out of his delivery; he was aggressive with arm speed on his changeup. It was fun to watch. You’re not going to throw a two- or three-hitter all the time, but that’s the kind of guy we envision. His stuff was electric.”

It was Sept. 1, 2007 when he no-hit the Baltimore Orioles in only his second major-league start. He threw 115 pitches that day and struck out nine for the 17th no-no in club history.

Last night didn’t have the drama, the edge-of-your-seat excitement, but he was just as good as he was last summer. Last night, he threw 113 pitches (76 strikes) but came up a bit short.

“I felt in control,” he said. “I never thought [Iwamura’s] at-bat would go down like that. I thought I had him struck out with a curve ball. He hit a good pitch, man. When I let it go, I thought he would take it or swing over the top of it. But he was sitting all over it. Hats off to him because I threw a pitcher’s pitch and he hit it.”

Despite the no-hitter, last season was bittersweet for Buchholz. The Red Sox shut him down for the remainder of the 2007 season due to arm-strength issues. That made Buchholz a bystander during the magical postseason run to a World Series championship. In fact, management had serious conversations with him about his preparation both on and off the field.

“In my opinion that’s in the past,” said Francona. “He’s done everything I’ve asked. He competes. He doesn’t back down from anybody. He’s exciting. He has good demeanor on the mound and he just wants to win.”

Buchholz was slow to start this season, but he exploded onto the scene once again last night.

“Overall, I felt great tonight,” he said. “It was just a little misfortune, I guess.”

Buchholz got two quick outs in the bottom of the first before issuing back-to-back walks. He got out of the jam by striking out the Rays’ Evan Longoria.

Buchholz then retired the next six batters before Upton’s double in the fourth. He reached third on a groundout, but was left stranded.

With the way Buchholz was pitching, the Red Sox didn’t need much offense.

Coco Crisp led off the top of the fifth with a single, and reached third with some heads-up base-running. Tampa starter Edwin Jackson threw a wild pitch and the speedy Crisp took off from first and reached third relatively easy. Crisp scored on Jacoby Ellsbury’s two-out infield hit that gave Boston a 1-0 advantage.

Buchholz was extremely efficient in the bottom of the inning and quickly retired the side in order. He did the same in the sixth and again in the seventh. It was clear he was dialed in.

With one out in the eighth, and Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon warming in the bullpen, Navarro hit a soft liner to right. Ellsbury, playing right field, tried to make the play, but the ball fell in at his feet.

.After Jason Bartlett flied out to center field, Iwamura scorched his two-run homer to deep right field to give Tampa a 2-1 lead. Buchholz later said he knew the ball was gone as soon as it was hit. For a few seconds after it landed in the seats, Buchholz just stood there, glaring into right field.

“He pitched great,” said Kevin Youkilis. “He just made that one mistake and got hurt on it. But, he threw the ball great and had a great outing. This is how baseball works sometimes.”

jmcdonal@projo.com