BOSTON -- Pardon Clay Buchholz if he experienced a little déjà vu whole toeing the rubber against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.

The 25-year-old Sox hurler was handed a generous lead by the Sox offense and asked to simply throw strikes, keep the game moving and gather outs against an offense battling out of an 8-0 hole after the first three innings.

Dustin Pedroia smashed a pair of home runs in his first career multi-home run game and J.D. Drew, Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz also added their own four-baggers to the home run party in a 10-0 whitewash victory for the Sox.

The Texas Rangers swept a doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday, and – despite the Sox victory – moved within two games of the AL Wild Card race with four weeks left to go in the season. Armed with a big lead, Clay Buchholz pitched seven innings of shutout ball to earn his fifth win and lowered his ERA to 3.92 on the season.

It was eerily reminiscent of an Aug. 2 game against the O’s that Buchholz started at Camden Yards, but that game didn’t quite go according to plan.

The game took place just days after the Major League trade deadline and Buchholz was handed a seven-run lead after three innings courtesy of an energized offense brought to life by the newly acquired Victor Martinez. But the center didn’t hold for Buchholz on that muggy afternoon, and he couldn’t calm down the offensive storm around him and simply throw strikes.

Buchholz walked four batters and was cuffed around for seven runs in an eventual 18-10 Boston win that was due in no part at all to the starting pitcher. Buchholz had a 6.05 ERA after that debacle in Baltimore, but that’s proving to be something of a rock-bottom this season.

It’s no stretch to say that Buchholz has come a long way since that fitful afternoon.

“When he pitches like that – and I’m trying not to get ahead of myself – it’s amazing how good the organization feels about the future,” said Sox manager Terry Francona, clearly admiring Buchholz’s total command out on the mound. “You look at him up there putting up zeroes and the way he can do it, it’s very exciting.”

The young hurler obviously learned his lessons well in that situation, and erased thoughts of the enormous run cushion right out of his head this time around against the Orioles. He attacked within the strike zone with all three of his pitches, and conjured up images of former big league greats within the mind of Baltimore manager Dave Trembley after the game.

“He probably looked like a combination of Don Drysdale, Warren Spahn and Sandy Koufax when he got an 8-0 lead,” said Trembley of Buchholz. “He kept pitching.”

That’s exactly what Buchholz did, and he didn’t stop tossing quality pitches until Sox manager Terry Francona had removed the ball from his hands following seven innings of shutout ball with only one walk and three hits allowed. The young pitcher showed off another step in his maturation while pitching with a lead provided by the Sox offense, and continues to flash potential as Boston’s No. 3 starter behind the rock-solid duo of Josh Beckett and Jon Lester.

How different did Tuesday night’s start feel as opposed to the early August debacle against the very-same Orioles?

“A world of difference, I guess,” said Buchholz. “The first couple of innings from the last start were good. I sort of let it get out of control. Tonight I tried to pace the game as if it was still a tied game or a close game.

“If they got on base, I tried to pitch the count that would get me a groundball and work from there. I’ve had some failures with that same type of deal and I was able to get out of the inning without letting him score. It’s definitely a big deal for me.”

It’s a big deal for Buchholz, and it’s an even bigger deal for the Red Sox if their 25-year-old pitching product continues to mature right in front of their watchful eyes.