It was a little bit of an uneven start from Boston Red Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta on Thursday against the Kansas City Royals, but he was still pretty pleased with his outing.
While things got away from the Red Sox after Pivetta left the contest, the right-hander tossed five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out five and only walking one to earn a no decision.
Pivetta surrendered two runs in the bottom of the first inning, but settled in nicely after, which left him satisfied with how things went on the mound.
"I was really happy with my results today," Pivetta told reporters following Boston's 7-3 loss at Kauffman Stadium, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "Salvador Perez put a good swing on a good slider down and away to take the lead there (in the fifth inning). ... But mostly I was happy with everything."
Pivetta proved to be a little bit of an escape artist in the Kansas City heat. The Royals threatened routinely only for Pivetta to come away unscathed for the most part. The Royals left five runners on base against Pivetta, as the righty stranded four of them in scoring position.
"I felt good," Pivetta said. "I was able to kind of control my attentions with runners on base, make good pitches when I needed to and they put the ball in play pretty well, but I was able to limit damage as much as I could."
While Pivetta appears to be getting back on track, the Red Sox had a pitching reinforcement dazzle with Triple-A Worcester on Thursday, which is a major positive as well.
