Nick Pivetta’s Mindset Before Red Sox-Mets Is Something We All Need

Nick Pivetta essentially was given up on by the Philadelphia Phillies last year, prompting his trade to the Boston Red Sox.

Now the pitcher is 3-0 and out-dueled one of Major League Baseball’s best pitchers Wednesday night.

Pivetta earned win No. 3 after the Red Sox beat Jacob deGrom and the New York Mets at Citi Field in what probably was his best outing for Boston.

If you ask Pivetta, though, he went into the game thinking he was just as good as his opponent.

“I think I’m just as good as deGrom,” Pivetta told reporters after the game. “The way that I go into it is I have to mentally put myself in that I’m as good as deGrom, and I’m going to beat deGrom. That’s just what you have to do. He’s an incredible pitcher — don’t get me, wrong, I love watching him pitch. I think he’s incredible. But I can’t let him being up here, let me get down here. I have to go up and meet him right there and believe in myself.”

Hey, you can’t knock the man if it worked, right?