With little room for error over the ultimate month-and-a-half of the season, the Red Sox need to beat up on the alternatives they’ve towards dangerous groups, and there aren’t many.
They can’t afford a repeat of what occurred two weekends in the past, once they inexplicably misplaced three out of 4 to the bottom-feeding Kansas City Royals.
On Tuesday, the Red Sox pounced on their subsequent likelihood.
Fueled by a fast begin, and backed by a long-awaited gem by Nick Pivetta, the Red Sox carried the momentum from this weekend’s huge collection win over the Yankees. Four first-inning runs have been greater than sufficient for Pivetta, who threw seven shutout innings and allowed only one hit, and although it bought furry within the late innings, the Red Sox held off the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates in a 5-3 win at PNC Park.
The takeaways:
1. Pivetta throws a gem
It could have been simply the Pirates – who fell to 45-71 and have the worst offense within the National League – however this was a much-needed efficiency for Pivetta.
After a powerful first half, Pivetta fell again to earth with a brutal July during which he posted a 9.38 ERA. But he has bounced again in August, as evidenced by Tuesday evening’s begin. The right-hander each threw seven innings and earned a win for the primary time since June 24 towards Cleveland as he cruised by way of Pittsburgh’s lineup.
Given a four-run cushion earlier than he even stepped foot on the mound, Pivetta not often confronted bother. He issued a two-out stroll to Bryan Reynolds and single to Ben Gamel – the one hit he allowed – earlier than getting out of the jam. And after a four-pitch leadoff stroll to Rodolfo Castro required a mound go to from catcher Reese McGuire, he bounced again with three consecutive outs.
Pivetta retired the ultimate 9 batters he confronted, and concluded his outing by overlaying first on a Castro groundout to finish the seventh, when he jogged off the sphere with an enormous smile after throwing 99 pitches. He grew to become the second consecutive Red Sox starter to pitch seven shutout innings, after Michael Wacha’s dominant efficiency Sunday evening towards the Yankees.
2. Red Sox needlessly burn Schreiber
Five outs away from what ought to have been a straightforward win, the Red Sox made it far tougher on themselves than wanted.
With a snug 5-0 lead, it shortly grew to become uncomfortable. Austin Davis took the eighth and after a leadoff come out of Greg Allen, he gave up two singles wrapped round a stroll to load the bases, which pressured Alex Cora to take him out and use John Schreiber – one among his greatest high-leverage arms – on an evening he shouldn’t have been wanted. Schreiber struck out the Pirates’ greatest hitter Bryan Reynolds – getting him trying on a nasty slider earlier than an upset Reynolds was ejected for arguing – however adopted that by permitting a three-run double to Gamel.
The five-run cushion, although, was in the end sufficient. Schreiber flew out Josh VanMeter earlier than Matt Barnes took the ninth, when he recorded a 10-pitch save, his first since May 21.
Source: www.bostonherald.com