Clay Buchholz is 6-1 with a 2.05 E.R.A. He leads the PawSox in wins and strikeouts.

Journal photo / John Freidah

PAWTUCKET - Clay Buchholz is patiently waiting for the Boston Red Sox to call his number and promote him once again to the big leagues.

He's patiently waiting to show the PawSox parent club how much he has improved from last season to this one. He wants to show that he has returned to his 2007 form, when he went 3-1 with a 1.59 E.R.A. in four games with the Red Sox.

He knows he is capable of being successful at the major-league level. In his second major league start, Sept. 1, 2007, against Baltimore, he became the first Red Sox rookie to throw a no-hitter, accomplishing a historic feat that not even Boston greats Babe Ruth, Cy Young or Roger Clemens could do.

On that night, he was anointed the next great Red Sox pitcher. But it turned out to be a blessing and a curse.

From that point on, Buchholz put the pressure on himself to achieve perfection every time he walked to the mound, and he succumbed to that enormous weight in 2008 when the then 23-year-old went 2-9 with a 6.75 E.R.A. in 15 starts.

Because things weren't going right, Buchholz, now 24, was sent to Double-A Portland to get refocused and refine his craft. He has since become the PawSox' ace and has been selected to pitch in the Triple-A All-Star game on July 15 in Portland, Ore., after dominating opposing hitters the first half of the season.

"He comes out and commands the zone," Pawtucket manger Ron Johnson said. "He has been real good this year. I'm real excited about what he's doing."

Buchholz, who is 6-1, is ranked second in the International League with a 2.05 E.R.A. He has 82 strikeouts and only 25 walks in 87.2 innings pitched.

"It's a 180-degree turn from last year at this point, and that's definitely where I wanted to go from the beginning to right now," Buchholz said. "The All-Star break is coming up and this is a good spot to be in. I'm feeling good, pitching good, and the team is starting to win and everything is starting to click, so it's definitely a good position to be in."

While he would liked to have pitched better for the Red Sox in 2008, he said it was a humbling experience, and that both Buchholz and Johnson believe that when he does get his chance to pitch in the majors again, he will be better because of it.

"Any time you go out in the big leagues and throw a no-hitter, that's like going out and hitting four home runs in one game, especially in Boston, it's going to put some pressure on him. But I think he can look at it as a positive," Johnson said. "He's got things to draw back on. He knows what it's like to succeed up there and he knows what it's like to struggle, so from those standpoints I think it's going to make him better down the road."

Buchholz said that it is in honor to be selected to play in the Triple-A All-Star game, but because he is scheduled to pitch in Pawtucket's final game before the All-Star break, July 12, he won't be able to go. That will surely disappoint his fans. Buchholz was the overall leader in IL fan voting.

"I think I've matured from a pitching standpoint of the game," Buchholz said. "Last year those struggles helped me to do that. I wish I hadn't gone through the struggles, but at least I've learned from it and that's definitely good. It will all be figured out the next time I go up there."

And so he is patiently waiting for Boston to promote him. Buchholz knows that the Red Sox like what they see, but Boston's pitching staff is loaded with talent and big-money contracts, so Buchholz must continue to wait his turn.

He knows he will eventually get his chance. In the meantime, he plans on continuing to dominate batters at the Triple-A level.

"He's having a really good year so far, and I think he'll finish well," Johnson said.

roblee@projo.com