Nicked up again
Pivetta struggles in 2nd inning; Martinez leaves with injury
Nick Pivetta and the Red Sox are confident that better days are ahead this season for the right-hander. Right now, there’s nowhere really to go other than up.
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And the Red Sox will certainly need more from their No. 2 starter.
For a second consecutive start, Pivetta struggled badly. The Blue Jays teed off on him in a five-run second inning, and that was too much for the sleepy Red Sox offense to overcome in a 6-1 loss at Fenway Park on a night when a couple of their stars suffered injury scares.
“Super disappointing with how the second inning went,” Pivetta said. “I had way higher hopes with how this would go.”
Pivetta was trusted by Alex Cora entering the season to hold down a spot at the top of a rotation that won’t have Chris Sale until at least June — a role he earned after a strong first full season in Boston — but so far, the results haven’t been there. He was knocked around in last Friday’s home opener, and he was crushed in the second inning of Wednesday’s loss, which proved to be the difference.
In three starts to open the season, Pivetta owns a 10.03 ERA.
“It’s unfortunate but I can’t remember the last time I had to deal with something like this,” Pivetta said. “You kind of find out who you are in these moments, how you’re going to proceed.”
Pivetta worked through a scoreless first but ran into trouble immediately in the second. Matt Chapman singled and Raimel Tapia took a curveball deep to right, and the floodgates opened. Pivetta ultimately walked three and gave up two more hits in a 43-pitch inning, as the Jays opened a 5-1 lead that the Sox couldn’t recover from.
Pivetta responded with back-to-back shutout innings in the third and fourth, however. With pitching coach Dave Bush, he found something in the mechanical adjustments he’s been trying to make, which helped the velocity on his fastball and the consistency on his curveball. The Red Sox are hoping he can carry that momentum into his next start.
“Honestly, the last two innings were his best innings so far out of the three outings,” Cora said. “If we’re going to take something positive out of this it was the way he finished.”
Other takeaways from Wednesday’s loss:
Pivetta’s final two innings kept the game within reach, but the offense was unable to rally despite recording 10 hits. They ended the night 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position, their lone run coming in the first inning on J.D. Martinez’s RBI single.
“I think we’re expanding,” Cora said. “I have to take a look at certain counts, but it seems like if we’re ahead, we’re swinging. That’s not good. We’re better than that. We can use the whole field. When we’re at our best, we use the whole field.”
Martinez left the game in the third inning with left adductor (hip) tightness after hitting a leadoff double. The designated hitter appeared to grimace as he rounded first and pull up as he approached second, and after the next batter Xander Bogaerts took one pitch, a trainer came out and Martinez exited soon after.
Cora said Martinez is day to day and likely won’t be in Thursday’s lineup.
It wasn’t the only scare the Red Sox faced in that inning. Three batters later, Trevor Story was hit in the head with a 93 mph fastball from Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios. The Red Sox second baseman went down in pain and gathered himself for a few minutes — attended to by Cora and the training staff — before he ultimately stayed in the game and took his base.
Matt Barnes didn’t have a clean seventh inning, but the reliever took some encouraging steps as he continues to work toward becoming a trusted bullpen arm for Cora. He should have had a shutout inning, as he struck out Tapia on a curveball. But a dropped strike allowed him to reach first and ultimately allowed the Jays to score on a sac fly.
Jackie Bradley Jr. has quietly become one of the Red Sox’ best hitters. With two singles on Wednesday, the outfielder is now 8-for-21 in his last seven games, a stretch that includes four doubles.