Alex Cora Pokes Hole In Former Red Sox Pitcher’s Career Year
Nick Pivetta is having a great season
When the Boston Red Sox come to the plate in the top of the first inning on Friday, they’ll be facing a familiar opponent.
Nick Pivetta takes the hill for the San Diego Padres after spending four seasons in Boston. By the numbers, he’s having the best season of his career. He’s 11-3 with a 2.73 ERA over 128 2/3 innings.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora isn’t exactly surprised by the improvements.
“Good season, Nick [Pivetta] is a good pitcher,” Cora said. “As far as the numbers, similar to last year. Same thing, different ballpark. [In San Diego], flyballs don’t go. At Fenway, flyballs, they go out of the ballpark.”
Cora isn’t wrong; the numbers are similar in many ways. His hard hit rate is actually higher than it was in 2024, and he’s allowing more fly balls. The difference is, as Cora observed, where those fly balls end up. In 2024, 15.1% of fly balls went for home runs. This season, only 8.9% of his fly balls have left the ballpark.
On top of the similar underlying numbers, the splits support that the environment has helped Pivetta’s numbers. At home, he has a 1.99 ERA. On the road, his ERA is 3.67.
Pivetta has made some tweaks, but nothing major. He’s using his curveball more often and cut his sweeper usage. He also added a sinker to throw to righties, though he’s never thrown it more than nine times in a game.
There’s no denying that the former Red Sox pitcher is having a great season. He gives the Padres a chance to win almost every time out, which is all you can ask for in a starting pitcher. As Cora said, though, the numbers don’t tell the full story.
