Nick Pivetta on Wednesday resembled an early-2000s era Undertaker during his infamous biker phase.
He just kept rollin’, rollin’, rollin’, rollin’…
Pivetta shut down the Braves with nine strikeouts over seven one-hit, scoreless innings to help the Red Sox salvage a two-game series split with a 9-0 victory.
That makes back-to-back strong starts for the 31-year-old right-hander following a five-run stinker in a loss to Milwaukee on May 25. Pivetta’s outing Wednesday came on the heels of a two-run, nine-strikeout start last Thursday versus Detroit.
“I wouldn’t say I felt great, to be honest with you,” Pivetta said. “But, yeah, it was a good outing. I think from out (of) the gate the guys were on the bats, gave me a lot of runs. So I was able to kind of just attack the strike zone, get ahead of guys and allow themselves to get each other out. It was a good team effort and a good team win today.”
Nick Pivetta's 7th K...and K scream. pic.twitter.com/BpRVKtimR7
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 5, 2024
Pivetta got plenty of help from the Boston bats, too. Rafael Devers slugged his team-leading 12th and 13th home runs of the season, first a solo shot to get the party started in the second and then a two-run blast in the seventh to make it 8-0.
It was Devers’ first multi-homer game of the season and the 17th of his career, even drawing praise from Alex Cora — the same person who criticized his slugger for not being locked in even after his franchise-record six-game homer streak.
“He wasn’t locked in, that’s the bottom line,” Cora said Wednesday. “Now he’s locked in.”
Cora added, “He’s staying on fastballs, using the whole field, not chasing pitches, hitting the ball the other way. That’s being locked in.”
Jarren Duran also helped key the offensive outburst in a three-run fifth by turning on the jets on a line drive to center for a one-out triple. Duran scored the first of Boston’s fifth-inning runs on Enmanuel Valdez’s ensuing RBI double, and he also clubbed a solo shot for good measure in the eighth to cap Boston’s nine-run onslaught.
Jarren Duran's ML-leading 9th triple was also his 100th career XBH! pic.twitter.com/BLvgQNiKz2
— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 5, 2024
Duran’s nine triples this season not only lead the majors, but they are the most by a Red Sox in a season since Jacoby Ellsbury had a career-high 10 in 2009. That’s 10 triples… the entire season. They are also the most by a Sox player through the first 62 games of the season since Nomar Garciaparra had nine in the first 62 games in 2003.
Tyler O’Neill even got in on the fun in his return from a right knee injury after being reinstated from the 10-day injured list. O’Neill knocked an RBI single in the fifth and finished 2 for 4, an especially good sign since his outfield counterpart Wilyer Abreu assumed his place on the IL this series after spraining his right ankle falling down the dugout steps.
A less consequential to the outcome, but still significant one of Boston’s 13 hits on the day was Jamie Westbrook’s pinch-hit single in the eighth, the 28-year-old’s first big league hit after 11 seasons toiling in the minor leagues.
“Man, it’s indescribable just to see the ball hit the grass and know like ‘alright,’” Westbrook said. “You fear you’re in the minor leagues so long you’re like ‘Man, what if I go up there (and struggle).’ You never know how things happen. It was nice to get it out of the way for sure and be able to keep looking forward.”
After 11 years and 1,159 games in the minors, Jamie Westbrook has his first big league hit! 👏 pic.twitter.com/Gmquej9Qwl
— MLB (@MLB) June 5, 2024
Westbrook told us that Wednesday’s game was the first time his grandfather was able to see him play, and that he gave the ball from his first hit to his mother, Jen, who was diagnosed with breast cancer five months ago but is currently in remission.
“I think she deserves that ball for more than the reasons I could even… I’d be here all day talking to you guys (about her), so she’s got it,” he said.
Boston earned its first win against Atlanta in four tries to avoid a season-series sweep. Alas, the win only brought the Sox back to .500 at 31-31, keeping them — where else — squarely on the road to 81-81.
As we’ve established, that pace simply isn’t going to cut it. Only eight teams have made the playoffs with no more than 85 wins in the Wild Card Era, according to MLB.com. The San Diego Padres made the cut at 82-80 atop the NL West in 2005, but were promptly swept in the NLDS.
The point being, you can’t expect to get very far on a .500 record. Maybe things will break just the right way and allow the Sox to sneak in with a near .500 mark, but the odds are not very promising that way.
The Sox still have an opportunity in front of them to make a push for a playoff spot, but this .500 business can’t continue for much longer if they truly want to take advantage…
Concerning Crawford
A big part of the reason the Sox only had a chance to split with the Braves was another troubling start for Kutter Crawford.
Crawford allowed a season-high-tying six runs (only four were earned) on five hits with a pair of walks and five strikeouts over six innings in an eventual 8-3 loss in Tuesday’s series opener.
It was the fourth straight dropped decision for the 28-year-old righty, who fell to 2-5 on the season, and it marked the sixth straight loss for Boston in a game started by Crawford.
“Just gotta make better pitches,” Crawford said postgame. “You know, just kind of going through a rut right now, but you know we’re just gonna keep fighting, keep trying to get better every single day, every single outing. Hopefully eventually I’m gonna come out on top of this little rut.”
Crawford’s season ERA ballooned to 3.51 on the season, which is still very respectable. But it’s a far cry from the pitcher who pitched to a 1.56 ERA while holding opposing hitters to a .201 batting average and striking out nearly six per game during his first seven starts of 2024.
“He was OK,” said Cora, who is beginning to sound like a broken record with that same assessment of seemingly every starter. Cora chalked up Crawford’s struggles to the fact he was facing a talented Braves lineup, which has some merit — although their best player, Ronald Acuna Jr., is out for the season.
Crawford will get a chance to break his and the team’s losing streak during his starts when he takes the mound for Sunday’s series finale against the White Sox in Chicago. Unfortunately, the White Sox have not been a friendly opponent for Crawford, who has gone 0-2 with a 5.56 ERA across 11 1/3 innings in two prior starts against them.
Getting Sox-y
Finally, the series Cora has been looking forward to all week long…
Boston will get a chance to build on its newfound… it’s not even momentum, they won one game. So, call it what you will… against a truly abysmal White Sox team beginning on Thursday night.
Chicago was riding an impressively woeful 12-game losing streak into Wednesday night’s series finale against the crosstown rival Cubs. They haven’t won since May 21st at Toronto, a victory that snapped a four-game skid and a stretch of six losses in eight games.
Translation? They’re bad, really bad…
Tanner Houck (5-5, 1.85 ERA) is set to start in Thursday’s opener opposite Jake Woodford. The 27-year-old righty has been rollin’ along himself, allowing just two earned runs in his last 20 innings across three starts.
On Friday, the Sox will send Cooper Criswell (3-2, 3.92) to the mound against Garrett Crochet in hopes of replicating his success last time out against Detroit, when he tossed five innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts last Saturday en route to a 6-1 win.
Saturday will be Brayan Bello’s (6-2, 4.36) day opposite Nick Nastrini. The young Sox ace-in-the-making wasn’t sharp, but also wasn’t terrible in allowing four runs on eight hits with three walks and five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings last time out against Detroit on Sunday.
All told, it’s another good chance for the Sox to shake free from this .500 purgatory. Now we’ll see if they take it…
Gethin Coolbaugh is a columnist for Boston Sports Journal. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on X/Twitter.