All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' win over the Orioles, complete with BSJ analysis and insight
HEADLINES
Turnaround complete for Pivetta: Starter Nick Pivetta began the year by losing four of his first five starts, with the team dropping all five of those starts, after which Pivetta found himself at 0-4 with a 7.84 ERA. Since then, however, Pivetta has been a completely different pitcher. Sunday marked his fourth straight win and fifth straight start in which he allowed fewer then three earned runs. In those five outings, he's 4-0 with a 1.59 ERA, lowering his ERA for the season to 3.95. Pivetta credits better command of the fastball and cutting down on the free passes, though Sunday saw him issue three walks, his most since he walked four on April 26. In that stretch, he's pitched at least six innings -- including a complete game -- making him the first Sox starter to have a run like that since 2019. "I just feel like it's me working on my consistency,'' he said, "going out and repeating what I'm doing and being able to just get comfortable, into a rhythm. Overall (this stretch) was good, but there's points where I could be better.''
Everybody contributes offensively: For the fourth time in the last five games and the eighth time in the last 11, the Sox had double digits in hits (15) with contributions coming from everywhere. It's not often in a game that a team gets five home runs, much less five homers from five different players -- all, by the way, by the fifth inning. The Sox got big contributions from hitters who have seemingly been locked in since the start of the season (Xander Bogaerts with three htis, Rafael Devers with a homer) as well as getting long balls from two guys who had been struggling mightily (Bobby Dalbec and Franchy Cordero) and one who plays infrequently (Christian Arroyo).
TURNING POINT
There wasn't a lot of drama in this one as the Red Sox raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning, and then tacked on additional runs in each of the next three innings. But before they turned it into a romp, Pivetta pitched himself out of a jam in the third. A double and back-to-back walks loaded the bases for the Orioles, but Pivetta managed to get Ryan Mountcastle to hit a hard liner directly at Christian Arroyo in right field to end the thread. The Orioles weren't competitive from that point going forward.
TWO UP
Bobby Dalbec: He belted a two-rum homer in the second inning, his second homer in as many days after going 32 games without hitting one.
Xander Bogaerts: The picture of consistency, Bogaerts rapped out three hits, giving him his ninth game of three or more hits, tying him for the league lead in that category.
TWO DOWN
Phillips Valdez: Valdez entered the game in the ninth, with his team leading by 11, and had a four-pitch walk, a hit batsman and a wild pitch. That stretch alone should be good for a return trip to Worcester.
Trevor Story: The infielder, who was on a torrid stretch only a few days ago, has cooled considerably of late. He was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and is 1-for-11 on the homestand.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"It looks very much like who we are and what we set ought to be. The consistency is there, from top to bottom, and I think that's the most important thing is everybody is putting up competitive ABs.'' -- Nick Pivetta on the Sox' offense.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* Christian Arroyo has had an RBI in each of his last five starts, a career-best.
* Kike Hernandez extended his hitting streak to 10 games, tying a career high.
* Christian Vazquez is batting .357 in the month of May.
* Franchy Cordero is batting .375 (9-for-24) over his last eight games.
* For the fifth time in the last seven games, all nine hitters in the starting lineup managed to reach base safely at least once.
* Red Sox starting pitchers have allowed two runs or fewer in 22 of the last 36 games, good for a 3.52 ERA in that stretch
UP NEXT: The five-game series finally comes to an end Monday night with LHP Rich Hill (1-2, 3.86) vs. RHP Tyler Wells (1-4, 4.30) at 7:10 p.m.