Red Sox Notes: Lucas Giolito Offers Blunt Assessment Of ‘Terrible’ Outing

BOSTON — Lucas Giolito showed plenty of promise in his Boston Red Sox debut last week.

But Giolito failed to build off of it in his first start at Fenway Park in a Red Sox uniform Tuesday night.

The Texas Rangers roughed up Giolito, especially in the fourth inning when they scored five runs on seven hits to chase the veteran righthander from the game before the frame came to a close. Giolito ended up allowing six runs in total over 3 2/3 innings while giving up 10 hits to go along with one walk and two strikeouts.

It was a performance that Giolito unsurprisingly was far from happy about.

“It was terrible,” Giolito said following Boston’s 6-1 defeat. “I gave up a bunch of base hits in a row. That’s not doing my job.”

Giolito basically only used his fastball and changeup in the outing and disregarded his slider and curveball. According to Baseball Savant, Giolito threw only one slider and one curve out of his 74 pitches.

And with Giolito’s command off and his velocity a tick down — his fastball averaged 91.6 mph on a rainy night at Fenway — the Rangers weren’t fooled by the righty’s two-pitch mix.

“Probably could have tried,” Giolito said of using his breaking balls more. “Looking back on it, it’s like maybe lean on the slider more, see if we can get that going. I have the ability to pitch with two pitches, but they have to be good and they weren’t good today. So, they made me pay for it.”

Giolito looked sharp in his first start on a big-league mound in well over a year last week against the Toronto Blue Jays. He turned in a quality start, tossing six innings in which he allowed three runs on five hits while issuing two walks and striking out seven.

The 30-year-old pitcher said the elements didn’t impact him against the Rangers. So, it’s back to the drawing board for him before his next start.

“I wanted to keep building off of last week,” Giolito said. “In a sense it was a step back and just an inability to control where the ball was going and have that good command that I had last week. Just got to get back to work this week and get it right.”

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

— Brennan Bernardino and Sean Newcomb combined to throw 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. The lefty relievers are battling to stay in the bullpen and are making the decision tough on the Red Sox. Bernardino tossed 1 1/3 frames in which he gave up two hits and struck out four. Newcomb, who started five games this season, pitched the final four innings and surrendered four hits to go along with one walk while fanning three.

“Newcomb was excellent,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He gave us more than enough. He basically saved our bullpen for the rest of the series. Changing speeds, throwing strikes, expanding when he needed. He was really good.

“And (Bernardino), he’s been doing that the whole season, especially against righties. He’s done a good job, using that cutter and the changeup. Both of them, they did an amazing job for us and hopefully they set us up to win the series.”

— Abraham Toro got his first start in a Red Sox uniform as he filled in at first base. Toro, who was called up from Triple-A Worcester following Triston Casas’ significant knee injury, made an impact with a terrific defensive play in the second inning. He made a diving catch on a liner from Evan Carter and only had to tag first base with his glove to complete a double play. Toro went 1-for-3 with a single — he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double — as Cora said he will get spot starts at first base with the Red Sox not moving Rafael Devers to the corner infield position.

— Old friend and 2018 Red Sox World Series champion Nathan Eovaldi dominated his former club. The veteran right-hander induced a ton of weak contact over six innings and allowed just one run on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts.

“He’s tough,” Cora said. “We fell behind. He’s so efficient. He’s very aggressive. He keeps evolving, to be honest with you, using offspeed more.”

— The Red Sox and Rangers continue their three-game series Wednesday. Boston will send Tanner Houck to the mound while Texas will counter with Tyler Mahle, who owns a pristine 1.19 ERA. First pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. ET, and you can catch complete coverage on NESN.