The Boston Red Sox rolled past the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3, at PNC Park on Tuesday, picking up their fourth win in their last five games.
The Red Sox improved to 58-59 on the year, and the Pirates dropped to 45-71.
Check out the full box score here.
ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Take walks and hit the ball the other way. It feels as though Red Sox manager Alex Cora has been clamoring for his offense to do those two things for months. On Tuesday they did, and it led to a victory.
The Boston bats were calm, cool and collected to open the ball game with the first six batters reaching safely off of Pirates starter Mitch Keller. That is the most batters to reach consecutively to start a game for the Red Sox all season, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. The Red Sox drew two walks and hit four singles in the inning, with three of the four singles landing in opposite field.
By keeping the line moving, the Red Sox plated four early runs to give starting pitcher Nick Pivetta ample room to breath against the Pirates lineup. Breathing room he wouldn’t end up needing, as the starter went seven innings, only allowing one hit and three walks with six strikeouts.
Boston’s offense failed to record a hit over the final seven innings, but by playing the way they did early on, the steep decline wouldn’t matter.
STARS OF THE GAME
— Pivetta was superb. He went seven scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing just one hit on the night. The 29-year-old got back to .500 with the win, sitting at 9-9 on the season.
— Tommy Pham is on a heater for Boston. The Red Sox’s new leadoff hitter was 2-for-4 on Tuesday with a pair of singles, scoring two runs.
— Ben Gamel was seemingly the only Pirate who showed up to the field, going 2-for-4 from the plate with all three Pittsburgh RBIs. He had half of the Pirates’ hits on the night.
WAGER WATCH
Nick Pivetta entered the contest with +140 odds to record a win, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. A $100 bet on the righty to get his record back to .500 would have paid $240 total.
ON DECK AT NESN
The Red Sox and Pirates will continue their three-game series on Wednesday at PNC Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET, and you can catch full coverage of the game using NESN 360 following an hour of pregame coverage.
