Red Sox Notes: Nick Pivetta Silences Elite Braves Lineup

BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox won Tuesday’s contest against the Atlanta Braves with a 7-1 victory from Fenway Park.

Boston’s bats showed up with 12 hits against the best team in baseball and the pitching staff shut down a Braves lineup that entered the game leading the majors in homers, OPS and total bases.

Boston is 6-5 against Atlanta since the start of 2021. Alex Cora noted the competitive nature of the recent meetings after the win.

“For some reason, we always play them well,” Cora said. “We pitch well against them. It was a good all-around win.”

In another superb outing as the bulk reliever, Nick Pivetta battled through five scoreless innings with five strikeouts against an elite Atlanta lineup.

“Nick did an outstanding job again, without his best stuff,” Cora added.

“My command was a little bit down tonight, but I was able to execute pitches when I needed to,” Pivetta said.

The Alex Cora Era in Boston contains numerous starters who have stepped into roles as key relievers. David Price, Rick Porcello, Nathan Eovaldi and Pivetta are just a few. The Sox manager noted that his current super-reliever shares the work ethic of those arms of the past.

“He’s very similar to David (Price) in October in that sense,” Cora said. “He wants to work everyday. He wants to compete everyday. He was ready to go.”

“We had a conversation and he was honest: ‘I don’t like it, but I’m going to give you my best. I’m going to contribute.’ That’s what he’s doing right now.”

Alex Cora on Nick Pivetta’s bullpen transition

Most of those previously mentioned pitchers worked out of the bullpen in the postseason. Eovaldi and Drew Pomeranz made the switch during the summer, but what Pivetta is putting together is on a totally different level.

“He wants to contribute,” Cora said. “I think a lot of people made a big deal early on that he was going to be upset and wasn’t going to accept his role. What’s he going to do, quit? He’s getting paid to pitch for the Red Sox.”

Cora also gave further context into the discussion that he had with the 30-year-old about the transition.

“We had conversation and he was honest: ‘I don’t like it, but I’m going to give you my best. I’m going to contribute.’ That’s what he’s doing right now.”

“Whenever my name is called from the bullpen, and however long I pitch, it’s just what I do,” Pivetta added. “Go out and try to pit us in the best position to win.”

As each dominant appearance comes along, his Boston teammates see the difference in the right-hander in his new role. Pivetta lowered his ERA to 1.98 in 17 appearances as a reliever, according to Red Sox senior manager of media relations and baseball information J.P. Long. He has not allowed a run in his last 12 innings of relief while striking out 19 batters in that span.

“He’s an animal out of the bullpen,” Justin Turner said. “He’s been really good for us. Pounding the zone, using three, four pitches, keeping guys off balanced. I don’t know what happened, but since he moved to the bullpen, his fastball has been a whole different animal for him. He’s ripping it and getting it up in the zone and getting a lot of swings-and-misses underneath it.”

With just three healthy starting arms in the rotation, Pivetta’s durability remains vital to the life of the Red Sox season.

“That’s a tough lineup and what he did today was great,” Cora said. “What he did in Oakland was better. For two bullpen games, understanding he is going to be a big part of it in one of the two games. We feel like we’re in a good spot and (Chris Murphy) is doing the same thing.”

Here are more notes from Tuesday’s Braves-Red Sox game:

— Jarren Duran swiped two bases in the game to tally his fourth game this season with multiple stolen bases.

— With Duran and Yu Chang stealing a total of three bases, the Red Sox are now an MLB-best 23-for-26 on stolen base attempts in the month of July.

— The Braves turned an 8-3-5 triple play in the third inning. It was just the second time in American League/National League history that a team turned an 8-3-5 triple play and the first time since 1884, per SABR.

— The Red Sox had multiple at-bats of double-digit pitches on the night. Rafael Devers singled on an 11-pitch battle in the first inning while Justin Turner flew out to center in a 10-pitch at-bat to end the fifth inning.

— Chris Martin entered to get the final out of the seventh inning by striking out Ozzie Albies. By getting out of the frame, Martin recorded his sixteenth straight scoreless appearance. Joely Rodríguez also tallied his sixth straight scoreless outing since returning from the injured list.

— Masataka Yoshida tallied his American League-leading 39th multi-hit game of the season, per RedSoxStats on Twitter. The 30-year-old had three hits, including a two-run home run.

— With Adam Duvall’s eighth-inning single, every member of the Boston starting lineup tallied a hit.

— In the eighth inning, Turner recorded his 500th career walk.

— With the win, the Red Sox moved to 20-4 all-time in their yellow “City Connect” jerseys, including 5-0 in 2023.

— The Red Sox wrap up the quick two-game series against the Braves on Wednesday night at Fenway Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET on ESPN.