It took much longer than Lucas Giolito had hoped, but he’ll finally make his Boston Red Sox debut Wednesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The veteran starting pitcher signed with the Red Sox on a two-year, $38.5 million deal two offseasons ago, but never pitched last season for his new team as he underwent an internal brace procedure on his ulnar collateral ligament. Giolito was on track to start this season in the big leagues, but a hamstring strain sustained in his first spring training start set him back.
After five rehab appearances in the minor leagues, the Red Sox will activate the 30-year-old Giolito on Wednesday, ending an incredibly long wait to get back on a big-league mound.
“It felt like a piece of myself was missing for a while last year, watching our games (and) this year, watching our games. I’m just excited to be back,” Giolito told reporters Tuesday prior to Boston’s 10-2 win over the Blue Jays, per The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. “I signed over here with this team for a reason, and I wanted to contribute the best way I know how to, which is to take the ball and be available to throw 100-plus pitches every single start. And I haven’t been able to do that up until this point.
“Now, I finally have the ability, and I’ve been through all this rehab stuff to get to the point to be able to do that. I’m very pleased and happy to be able to actually do my job again, for sure.”
Story continues below advertisement
It’s hard to think Giolito will be in top-tier form Wednesday after not having pitched in the majors since Oct. 1 2023. The righthander didn’t exactly dominate during his rehab outings, either, going 0-2 with a 5.19 ERA and allowing 18 hits with 17 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings.
With all of that in mind, the Red Sox are going into his start with tempered expectations.
“We had to be patient (with the rehab) and patient now, too,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters, per Speier. “To be honest with you, we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but the cool thing is he’s going to be on a big league field, if everything goes well and we’ll work with him and help him to be successful.”
Story continues below advertisement
First pitch from Rogers Centre on Wednesday night is set for 7:07 p.m. ET. You can catch complete coverage of the game on NESN.
