One night after Nathan Eovaldi fell apart and allowed seven runs to the Blue Jays in one inning, Nick Pivetta put up a performance that restored a little bit of faith in the Red Sox starting rotation.
Pivetta threw six innings of one-hit ball in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader in Toronto. He walked one and struck out five to preserve a scoreless game before he was yanked in favor of closer Matt Barnes in the bottom of the seventh.
Barnes threw one pitch, which Marcus Semien launched for a walk-off homer. And while that was a miserable way to end the afternoon, Red Sox manager Alex Cora was satisfied with Pivetta's outing.
"Nick did an outstanding job," Cora said after the game. "Threw six innings. Every pitch mattered. He stepped up to the challenge ... He did an amazing job."
The outing was his fifth start that lasted at least five innings and resulted in zero earned runs and two or fewer hits. That figure leads the American League, according to Red Sox Notes on Twitter.
Pivetta lowered his ERA to 4.34 on the season.
