Johnson connected on another tough

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HOUSTON -- A pair of Red Sox from Texas sure made things tough on the Houston Astros in their return to the Lone Star state. Nolan Ryan Astros Jersey . Clay Buchholz allowed three hits and struck out a career-high 12 in his fifth career shutout in Bostons 11-0 win over Houston on Sunday. Brock Holt had a career-best five hits, including a leadoff homer, to help the Red Sox to their fourth victory in five games heading into the All-Star break. Buchholz went to high school 90 minutes from Houston in Lumberton, Texas, and Holt grew up in Stephenville, which is about 80 miles from Fort Worth. "I definitely had a lot of people out here to watch the game, so that makes it even better," Buchholz said. "Obviously, a win to end the first half is a good thing, too." All of the hits Buchholz (4-5) allowed were singles, and he didnt walk a batter in his first shutout since June 2, 2013, against the Yankees. Chris Carter extended his career-high hitting streak to nine games with a single with one out in the fourth. Buchholz sailed through the rest of the game, retiring his last 17 batters. "The change-up was best that it has been all year," Buchholz said. "The cutter had good bite to it. Whenever youve got four or five pitches working, its hard for a hitter to sit on any one of them." Holt, who played at Rice, launched a 92 mph fastball from Brad Peacock (3-6) into the seats in right field to give Boston an early lead. Hes the first Boston player to collect five hits in a nine-inning game since Victor Martinez on June 1, 2010. Holt smiled when told that a television shot of his mother showed her tearing up after his homer. "You dont expect to have weekends like this, so for all the family and friends to be in to see it was pretty special," Holt said. "It doesnt surprise me that (mom) was crying. Shes probably about to cry right now when I say goodbye." Peacock couldnt locate his pitches and was done after getting just one out, forcing Houston to use five relievers to finish the game. Peacock was unhappy about being pulled so early, but manager Bo Porter wanted to make a change before things got out of hand. "Its not like he had command of the strike zone," Porter said. "At that point, you say to yourself: Are you going to wait until it is 4 or 5 to nothing or are you going to try to give us a chance? I felt like we had a better chance to get another guy in there at that point." Rookie Christian Vazquez had two hits and two RBIs to help the Red Sox score a season-high 11 runs. Holt hit Bostons first leadoff homer of this season. Dustin Pedroia singled before David Ortiz drew a walk. Porter had seen enough and pulled Peacock after he plunked Daniel Nava on his 27th pitch. Xander Bogaerts walked to start the second and advanced to second on a passed ball. Stephen Drews single sent Bogaerts to third and he scored when Vazquez grounded into a double play to make it 2-0. Holt and Pedroia then hit back-to-back singles, but Anthony Bass retired Ortiz to limit the damage. Mike Napoli singled with no outs in the third before Nava reached on an error by first baseman Jon Singleton. An RBI single to centre field by Jackie Bradley Jr. pushed the lead to 3-0 before a sacrifice fly by Bogaerts scored another run. The bases were loaded with two outs in the fifth when Josh Zeid replaced Darin Downs and was greeted with an RBI single by Vazquez. A throwing error by Jose Altuve on the play allowed a second run to score and extend the lead to 6-0. An error and a single by Drew left runners at the corners with one out in the seventh. The Red Sox made it 7-0 on a sacrifice fly by Vazquez. Holt singled before Pedroia walked, and Ortiz drew a bases-loaded walk to push the lead to eight runs. Boston tacked on three more in the ninth inning. NOTES: Carter, who is normally the designated hitter, played left field for the first time since last season. That allowed George Springer to be the designated hitter because of soreness in his right knee. ... The Astros 40 wins at the break are the most they have had in the first half since winning 44 in 2009. Kenny Lofton Indians Jersey . Venus Williams advanced to the ASB Classic final in Auckland on a walkover when fellow American Jamie Hampton withdrew from their semifinal Friday with a right hip injury. Omar Vizquel Tigers Jersey . -- Wichita State is all alone in the record book. http://www.chinanfljerseysauthentic.us.com/ . Catch the action live on TSN2 at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Wild lead the Northwest Division and look to get back into the win column after having a season-high seven-game winning streak cut short with Tuesdays 2-1 loss at Winnipeg in the finale of a five-game road trip (4-1-0). MIAMI -- LeBron James leaped onto a courtside table as the postgame celebration was starting, thumped his chest and punched the air. Next stop: The Eastern Conference finals. Again. James scored 29 points, Dwyane Wade added 28 and Ray Allen delivered two huge plays in the final seconds as the Heat rallied to beat the Brooklyn Nets 96-94 on Wednesday night, winning the second-round matchup 4-1. "Its always been like that for us," James said. "Its never easy. Its never easy for us." Sure looks easy, though. It was the 10th straight series win for the two-time defending NBA champions. "When we met the first day for prep we said the No. 1 key, overwhelmingly the No. 1 key in this series, was great mental stability," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Thats what it was down the stretch ... incredible focus." Incredible defence, too, when it was needed most. Down by eight with less than five minutes left, the Heat forced Brooklyn into nine straight missed shots while peeling off a 12-0 run to take the lead. Allens 3-pointer off an assist by Mario Chalmers with 32 seconds remaining was the go-ahead moment, and the Heat wouldnt trail again. Allen disrupted Joe Johnsons dribble on the games final play, James then swatted the bouncing ball out of everyones reach, time expired -- and the Heat advanced. "Give the Heat credit," Nets coach Jason Kidd said. "They were attacking there in the fourth quarter. We were attacking. Both teams were attacking. They made plays, they made shots and we didnt." Chris Bosh scored 16 and Allen finished with 13 for Miami. Johnson had 34 points, Paul Pierce scored 19 and Deron Williams had 17 for the Nets. Its the sixth trip to the East title series in the last 10 seasons for Miami, which is bidding for a fourth straight trip to the NBA Finals -- something only the Lakers and Celtics franchises have accomplished. James is heading to the East finals for the sixth time in eight seasons, the first two of those trips coming with Cleveland in 2007 and 2009. The Heat will next face either fifth-seeded Washington or top-seeded Indiana. The Pacers lead that series 3-2, one win away from setting up a rematch with Miami that seemed like an absolute certainty for much of the season. "Obviously, we thought this was a game we should have won," Johnson said. Brooklyn led 49-42 at the half, with Miami missing 15 of its first 166 tries from 3-point range. Roy Oswalt Astros Jersey. . The Nets closed the half on an 8-0 run and the lone bright spot in the opening 24 minutes for Miami was Wade, who had 20 points -- more than any other two players to that point combined -- on 7-for-12 shooting. "He has a way, right? Hes a playoff warrior," Spoelstra said. Eventually, barely, Miami broke through. But it took most of the second half to get there, since whenever Miami tried to put together a run Brooklyn found a way to keep things together. -- A layup from James late in the third got the Heat within three; a minute later, the margin was eight again. -- A free throw from James with 9:03 left cut Brooklyns lead to 77-73; less than a minute later, it was 82-73 after a 3-pointer by Pierce. -- A 3-pointer by Bosh made it a four-point game again; two Brooklyn possessions and zero Miami stops later, it was 86-78 after a sensational step-back jumper by Johnson. And when Johnson connected on another tough shot with 4:49 left, it was 91-83 and the Nets could sense that the night would be theirs. Then the Heat scored the next 12 points, and that was enough. Barely, but enough. "For us, it was just about getting stops," Wade said. "We knew offensively that we needed to execute, but we knew we werent going to win the game unless we got some stops." For the Nets, more than $180 million in salary and luxury tax was supposed to bring a championship. Instead, billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov got only a trip to the second round as his return on a massive investment. Brooklyn lost centre Brook Lopez to a broken foot after 17 games, struggled through the first two months of the season, then turned it on after Jan. 1. "We fought back and hung in there this year," Williams said. "A lot of people counted us out." Some big decisions -- mainly regarding the futures of Pierce and Kevin Garnett -- will have to be made by the Nets. Pierce will be a free agent; Garnett has a year left on his deal, though its been speculated he will consider retirement. Garnett left without comment. "Emotions are too fresh right now," Pierce said. Miamis future is more clear. The East finals await. NOTES: Wade had 12 points in the first quarter, his highest-scoring output from an opening period in his last 179 regular-season and playoff games. ... 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