It appeared Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta took a step back when he suffered defeat in Boston's 9-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday at Fenway Park.
Pivetta pitched poorly just prior to the All-Star break, but after the time off, delivered a strong showing in his previous outing by allowing just one run in 5 2/3 innings against the Cleveland Guardians.
Pivetta didn't come close to replicating that performance against the Brewers. The right-hander let up nine hits, including home runs to Hunter Renfroe and Omar Narváez, and four runs while striking out four and walking two in five innings of work.
That usually qualifies as a step back, but Pivetta disagreed with that assessment.
"I don't think it was a step back to be honest with you," Pivetta said, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "I think it was just certain miscues and certain pitches. I mean, the solo home run (to Narváez), it was an average curveball at best, hit it out. Renfroe, curveball, home run, hit it out. Just two missed located curveballs. Hasn't been the same as of late.
"I think the bulk, there's not a lot of change. I think my fastball was playing really well. I think my slider was good. I was in the zone all day. I think there's a lot more positives to today. It was just a couple pitches that went over the fence. That's just how it goes sometimes."
The home runs were crushing blows to Pivetta's outing as the Brewers scored three of their four runs off him with the long ball.
But while Pivetta saw more positives than negatives, Red Sox manager Alex Cora wasn't exactly on the same page as his pitcher for how he performed on the mound.
"I don't feel like he was able to find his rhythm," Cora said, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "He gave us a chance, right? He went five. I think stuff-wise, he'll be the first one to admit it, it wasn't one of his best ones."
As for his arsenal of pitches, there's only one of them Pivetta feels needs some tweaking at that moment.
"This start, like I said, I really wouldn't change too much from it," Pivetta said. "Obviously, I need to work my curveball a little bit more. Get that pitch down (in the zone). But other than that, I think the body of work was pretty decent."
