The Red Sox were left with more questions than answers when starting pitcher Nick Pivetta was called for a balk in Boston’s win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.
The call came in the top of the fifth inning with Bo Bichette at the plate for Toronto as Pivetta came out of the windup with a runner on third.
“I mean, it’s pretty frustrating at the moment, especially when you’re not given a clear message to exactly what you did wrong,” Pivetta said during an in-game Thursday interview as seen on NESN. “But in those moments, just kind of got to ease back, still got to get two more guys out after that, and still gotta execute your pitches and kind of let it roll off your shoulders.”
So how exactly did Pivetta reign himself in after losing the argument on the mound? His teammates, of course.
“Kiké (Hernández) and (Rafael Devers) kind of settled me down,” Pivetta explained. “Had a conversation with (Connor) Wong and he got a good plan moving forward. Was able to execute my pitches just like I wanted to.”
Pivetta said he didn’t expect to receive an explanation from the league on the call.
“There still hasn’t been one, to be honest,” the right-hander said. “We can kind of chalk that up. As you know, we just won’t ever find out what’s going on underneath that earned run for me.”
Pivetta said since he had thrown the previous two or three pitches the same exact way, declaring his windup, it shouldn’t have been an issue, but it was.
“It is what it is. Like I said was able to kind of brush it off and move forward and then continue with my plan.”
Pivetta completed the fifth inning, coming back out for the sixth and earned his second win of the season, giving up three runs on five hits with six strikeouts.
