Red Sox Notes: Nick Pivetta Steadies Boston Pitching Staff Again

The Boston Red Sox held on for a 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals to take the series lead on Wednesday night at Fenway Park.

The offense delivered with several timely hits to back starter Nick Pivetta, who has now dealt back-to-back solid outings since rejoining Boston’s rotation for the time being.

Wednesday’s outing was especially important for the Red Sox with the right-hander still firing 90 pitches on just three days of rest. He threw 66 pitches Saturday in a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Pivetta tossed five innings of two-run ball with eight strikeouts in the victory.

“It was big,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Not only because we needed it but he just pitched three days ago to go out there and pitch the way he did. Good fastball. The breaking ball was good. It was enough.”

“I thought my curveball was much better today,” Pivetta said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I was able to lean on that later. It felt like they were really hunting my fastball regardless of the count. I was able to use my off-speed pitches when I needed to and put us in the best position to win.”

Outing-to-outing, conditioning helps Pivetta stay ready with a heavy workload since June.

“He’s so strong,” Cora said. “He works so hard between outings. He’s a strong kid. He cares.”

“The training staff we have here, my strength coach that I work with, just managing the workload I think is the most important thing and making sure the body is prepared to do what it needs to do,” Pivetta said. “It’s just another day for me.”

Pivetta made a place for himself in the majors with a strong fastball that plays up in the zone along with a sharp, high-looping curveball. As of late, the 30-year-old benefits from a slider to attack hitters sideways in addition to a newly-implemented sweeper.

“The game-changer has been the sweeper,” Cora noted. “It gives him four pitchers now. It’s hard to hit him now. It’s not just a vertical attack.”

The Red Sox starter found a feel for the pitch on a previous road trip this season.

“I think it was all the way back when we were in Cleveland this year,” Pivetta recalled. “I was just messing around with some pitches in the outfield. It was working well. I basically just brought to a game and see how the pitch plays. It seems to work really well off of my curveball and my fastball.”

Over his last two starts between the win over Kansas City and a deep outing against the Seattle Mariners, Pivetta struck out 18 batters across 12 1/3 innings as he finds a rhythm in his transition back to being a starter.

Here are more notes from Wednesday’s Royals-Red Sox game:

— The Red Sox remain five games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, who earned a 1-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday, in the American League wild Card race.

— With two long balls on the night, MJ Melendez now has six home runs over the last two seasons against the Red Sox and three in the last two games.

— The Red Sox move to 8-1 this season when wearing their yellow “City Connect” uniforms and 23-5 all-time since the start of 2021.

— Rafael Devers became just the seventh player in Red Sox history to score 500 runs before the age of 27, according to Red Sox senior manager of media relations and baseball information J.P. Long.

— With the save in the ninth inning, Kenley Jansen clinched his 11th season of 25 or more saves in his career.

— Boston improves to 10-7 in 2023 in games where Triston Casas homers.

— The Red Sox wrap up their four-game series with the Royals on Thursday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.