Red Sox Notes: Pitching Sparking Optimism Entering Offseason

The Boston Red Sox won’t take their final series of 2023, but the pitching staff is leaving one strong last-minute impression before the door officially shuts on the season.

Going up against the 100-plus win, American League East-leading Baltimore Orioles, Boston’s starters haven’t backed down. In Games 1 and 2 of the series, Chris Sale and Nick Pivetta each tossed gems, although the offense didn’t reward the staff nearly as much.

That proved to be the case yet again during Boston’s 5-2 Saturday night loss to the Orioles, which quickly overshadowed Kutter Crawford’s solid pitching performance.

Crawford threw six scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and no walks while striking out seven Baltimore hitters.

“Good first seamer, good breaking ball, the split is getting better, especially the last two outings. A lot of swings and misses,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said postgame, per WEEI’s Rob Bradford. “Finished the season strong and that was a good one.”

Cora added on Crawford: “One thing he’s gonna do in the offseason, he’s gonna get stronger physically.”

Here are more notes from Saturday night’s Red Sox-Orioles game:

— Sale, Pivetta and Crawford combined to pitch 18 innings, allowing one run to the Orioles. However, only Pivetta (10-9) took home a win out of the trio.

— The Red Sox out-hit the Orioles, 14-7, but 12 of those hits were singles and the lineup combined to go just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, stranding 12 men on base.

— Boston is 5-7 against the Orioles this season.

— The Red Sox will wrap up their series with the Orioles and season on Sunday. First pitch from Camden Yards is set for 3:05 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, along with a full hour of pregame coverage, live on NESN.