The Boston Red Sox dropped the second game of a three-game series, falling 6-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday at Fenway Park.
Nick Pivetta struggled for his third consecutive outing and is now 0-3 with a 10.03 ERA in 11 2/3 innings. Against Toronto, Pivetta allowed seven hits with five earned runs, four walks, four strikeouts and a home run allowed in four innings of work.
“I think his breaking ball was okay,” Cora said as seen in NESN’s postgame coverage. “The way he finished, that was solid. Something that we can build from but that (second) inning we weren’t able to put people out with two strikes.”
Pivetta was understandably disappointed but appeared confident in his ability to get back on track.
“It’s unfortunate, I can’t remember the last time I’ve had to deal with something like this,” Pivetta said as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “But you kind of find out who you are in these moments. How are you going to proceed?
“I love to play baseball, I love playing in Boston. I want to do better for my teammates, for the city, for everybody.”
While the outing as a whole was poor from Pivetta once again, Cora thinks that the right-hander is turning a corner.
“Honestly I believe the last two innings were his best innings so far out of the three outings,” Cora said. “Velocity went up, and there were some 95-96 (mph fastballs). Seems like he was more aggressive with the fastball, was able to get it to the outside part of the plate.
“And if we’re going to take something positive out of this, it was the way he finished. We talked to him a little bit about certain things about his mechanics and it seems like he was in sync towards the end.”
Cora also talked about what Pivetta needs to do to get back on track and when he’s at his best.
“I think it’s just the mix, right? When he has a good fastball and he establishes a fastball then the other pitches played better. … I do believe that his fastball plays. When that plays, when that’s good, the other things are going to fall into place.”
Here are some other notes from Red Sox-Blue Jays:
— JD Martinez left the game in the third inning with left adductor tightness.
“He’s a little bit sore,” Cora said. “Nothing yet as far as moves, we should be day-to-day with him. He won’t play tomorrow and (then) we’ll see where he’s at.
“He mentioned the other day that he was a little bit tight but nothing to be concerned about. He does such a good job taking care of his body that when he’s a go, he’s a go. As soon as he hit that ball he felt it running. I think it was more about being smart about (the injury). Just come out of the game. Take care of it and then hopefully it’s something where it’s only a couple of days.”
— Trevor Story was hit in the head by a pitch but was able to stay in the game.
“He’s doing okay,” Cora said. “I mean it’s very scary, of course, but he went through all the concussion tests on the field. He was good to go. Right now they’re checking on him but hopefully tomorrow he doesn’t feel too bad and he can go.”
— The Red Sox and Blue Jays will battle for the series win on Thursday at 1:35 p.m. ET at Fenway Park.
