Forget Pretty Ricky ( Porcello. ) It was Nick Pivetta that was turning heads last night at Fenway. If you looked at the pitching matchups going into the Sox three game set vs the Astros you more likely than not did not see the lone loss coming from the golden arm of Nate Eovaldi. But that was the case as Garret Whitlock took the opener and Nick Pivetta slammed the door shut on the defending AL champion Astros.
Hi. Pivetta just threw a complete game 2-hitter. It was awesome. pic.twitter.com/TkOUAYwHXG — Red Sox (@RedSox) May 19, 2022
New Song and Dance
Pivetta looked every bit of his 5.08 ERA as he gave up a lead off home run to Jose Altuve and then looked anything but that as he proceeded to shut down the vaunted Astros lineup from that point on. After Altuve’ solo shot Pivetta sat down the next eighteen batters in a row going the distance for the Sox. It was just the fourth complete game in MLB this season and Pivetta first since 2019.
Rafael Devers Last 10+ games 43 AB – 3 HR – 10 RBI – 12 XBH .488/.522/.930/1.452 Looks like his price isn’t dropping — Boston Sports Info (@bostonsportsinf) May 18, 2022
Bats are Waking Up
Rafael Devers and J.D Martinez got the Sox on the board in the bottom of the first with Raffy getting the triple out of the way he needed for the cycle on Tuesday and Martinez drove him in on a no home run for you sac fly down the right field line. Xander Bogaerts also stayed in the hot zone going yard (Just Pay The Man) in his first at bat.
Ah. Such a bummer about JD Martinez hitting streak. 18 games is huge though — Savage (@SavageSports_) May 19, 2022
Kiké Hernández reached on a throwing error on Jeremy Peña in the third inning. He then scored on Devers’ double off the Monster. Boston added two more in the fourth via back-to-back RBI singles by Vázquez and Hernandez to stretch the lead to 5-1. And that’s where the scoring ended. The Sox have scored 34 runs over their past six games vs the state of Texas.
Alex Cora said he stayed away from Pivetta in the dugout before the ninth because he was afraid he was going to kill him if he didn’t leave him in. — Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) May 19, 2022
But the story was Pivetta. He finished with 8K on the night and walked no one in the contest, throwing a Red Sox season high 112 pitches. He’s gone 16 innings in his last two starts giving up 5 hits and just 2 earned while striking out 12 and walking just 1 batter. He is 2-1 in the month of May with an ERA of 1.71 ….
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