Nick Pivetta ‘Grateful’ Hunter Renfroe Bailed Him Out During No-Hitter

Before Nick Pivetta was pulled amid his no-hitter, Hunter Renfroe bailed him out to help him maintain it.

The Boston Red Sox on Thursday were tied with the Tampa Bay Rays in the bottom of the fifth of their series finale when Ji-Man Choi crushed a promising ball to right field that looked destined for the wall.

Enter Renfroe, who committed an absolute rubbery. You can bet his starting pitcher was pretty fired up by the play.

“I’m just really grateful for having him out there, he does a tremendous job,” Pivetta said after the game. “He’s done a tremendous job all year for us. He’s out there every night, putting great ABs together, it’s just what he does and he deserved every bit of it. I had all the utmost of confidence in him making that play. I thought the ball might have gone out, but I’ve never pitched here before, so I was really unsure. I was just really excited. It’s exciting baseball, divisional, no matter what it’s just fun, fans, you know, just excited.”

The momentum carried Pivetta through 6 2/3 innings, but Boston fell to Tampa Bay after a walk-off wild pitch, despite giving up just two hits all game.