Red Sox Notes: Bullpen Lifts Nick Pivetta Following ‘Abysmal’ Third Inning

The Red Sox bullpen dominated the Nationals as Boston held on to defeat Washington in the opening match of the three-game interleague series on Tuesday night.

The Red Sox and Nationals were forced to go to their bullpens early as each team’s starter got into trouble before the fifth inning.

For Boston, Nick Pivetta struggled in the third inning, giving up four runs on three hits and two walks.

“I did an abysmal job in the third inning,” Pivetta told reporters on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Really unfortunate. Like to have just made that inning a lot more cleaner but you know, it’s baseball things happen and you know, just got to be better. But at the end of the day, the offense came back. A tremendous job after that. Just all around for a team effort.”

Pivetta finished the night throwing 69.7% of his pitches for strikes (60-of-86 pitches) over 4 1/3 innings while striking out seven batters and walking three.

“I have three walks, which is unfortunate,” he said. “I think we take the positives from this bullpen did a tremendous job of shutting them down later, picking me up when they needed to. You know, I thought all around a good team effort.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora used the bullpen effectively as Brennan Bernardino shut down the two batters he faced in the fifth inning before handing the ball over to John Schreiber who retired the side in order in the sixth.

“They did an amazing job,” Cora told reporters on NESN’s postgame coverage.

For the seventh, Cora went to Chris Martin who retired the side in order on 10 pitches before giving way to Josh Winckowski for the eighth. Winckowski was the only relief pitcher to give up a hit but left the runner stranded by recording the final two outs of the inning. Kenley Jansen retired the side in order on just five pitches to earn his 28th save of the season.

Winckowski said the bullpen has been effective because Cora has a plan for when to use certain pitchers.

“I think (Alex Cora) has a really good feel for the bullpen,” Winckoski told reporters on NESN’s postgame coverage. “You know when certain guys need days (off) here and there. The communication between us and (pitching coach Dave) Bush and (Alex Cora) has been pretty consistent. Guys are honest with when they feel good, and they listen if we need a day.”

For Winckowski having a defined role has made his time coming out of the bullpen has made his season more successful.

“For me, it brings ease for sure,” Winckowski said. “Kind of at the start of the year, (I was) newer to the bullpen and I knew it was kind of still finding my role. … Now, we’ve kind of all flooded into our own areas and are crushing it.”

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

— Boston has won six straight games against Washington, improving to 9-1 all-time at Nationals Park. The Red Sox also improved to 19-22 in games against the National League this season.

— With the win, the Red Sox advanced to a dominant 41-14 when scoring first, 56-17 when scoring four or more runs, 48-30 when hitting a home run, and 23-16 in the opening game of a series.

— Boston is a Major League Baseball-best 50-7 when scoring five-plus runs, which they have done in four of their last 12 games.

— The Red Sox will look to win their seventh straight game against the Nationals in the middle contest of the three-game series. First pitch from Nationals Park is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET. You can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.