Red Sox @ Nationals Game Thread/ 15th- 17th 2023

Why this upcoming road trip could be make or break for the Red Sox
By Justin Turpin
WEEI 93.7
5 hours ago

The Red Sox capped off their 10-game homestand with a win on Sunday afternoon, defeating the Detroit Tigers 6-3. Led by Trevor Story, who continued to look like his old self finishing the game 4-for-4 at the plate with a career-high three doubles, the Red Sox offense jumped all over old friend Eduardo Rodriguez, who allowed a season-high 10 hits, which resulted in six earned runs. It marked just the seventh time in his eight-year career that Rodriguez allowed 10 hits or more.


After starting the homestand 0-3 due to the sweep by the Blue Jays, the Red Sox were able to recover, finishing 5-5. At one point, following their 9-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night, the Red Sox found themselves five games back for the third Wild Card spot. But after stringing together a few wins, and with some help from the Cubs and Guardians, the Red Sox head out on their 10-game road trip just 2 1/2 games back for the final Wild Card spot.

When the Red Sox kick off this 10-game road trip on Tuesday night in the nation's capital, the pressure will be on. With the clock ticking for Boston to close the gap, this road trip could make or break Boston’s wild card hopes.

With just 44 games remaining and a tough road ahead, the Red Sox need to take care of business. “We need to handle our own business,” Adam Duvall told Joe Castiglione and Will Flemming following Sunday afternoon’s win.

“We need to go out and win the series every time we go out there. It’s a race to the end,” Duvall added.

Boston will see the Nationals and Yankees before closing things out in Houston against the Astros over their 10-game, three-city road trip. The Yankees series will be especially important, with New York chasing Boston in the Wild Card race.

Though the Red Sox still face an uphill battle, their chances at that third and final Wild Card spot don’t look as bleak as they may have less than a week ago, but all that could change if they struggle on this road trip.

With emotions in motion, Nick Pivetta embraces role of ‘hybrid pitcher’ when he takes the mound for Red Sox
By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated August 14, 2023, 6:21 p.m.

Nick Pivetta makes no secret of the emotion he invests in his craft.

The Red Sox righthander has pounded his chest, high-stepped and stomped off the mound, howled after escaping jams, and bellowed in frustration. Yet the most striking display of Pivetta’s passion for his profession occurred off the field.

In the clubhouse after the final regular season game of 2022, Pivetta couldn’t stop bawling. The season had concluded with a 78-84 record, a letdown following the previous October’s wild ride to the ALCS. And Pivetta recognized he was likely together with pending free agents Nate Eovaldi, Rich Hill, and Michael Wacha for the final time.


“[The tears reflected] disappointment that we didn’t reach our goal, but it was also that a lot of my teammates and friends were going to be leaving. That’s hard. But I also care about winning a lot, and when we don’t reach our goal, it hurts, because I work so hard. We all work so hard,” said Pivetta, words catching in his throat. “We show up to the field every day to dedicate ourselves to this. It gets me emotional talking about it. But it’s just because I care.


“I care about my teammates and care about what I do.”

In 2023, Pivetta has been challenged to channel a different array of emotions to show his commitment to the Sox. Demoted from the starting rotation in mid-May, when he had a 6.30 ERA, the righthander was deeply disappointed.

In 2019, Pivetta — by his own admission — responded unproductively when the Phillies demoted him to the bullpen. But with the Sox this year, the 30-year-old took a different approach. While he did not hide the dismay of losing a job, he also didn’t ignore why he’d lost it.

He hadn’t pitched well enough. Pivetta needed to be better, no matter the role.


“I’m only human. I had been disappointed [to get taken out of the rotation]. I hold myself to extremely high standards. I would be lying to you to think that I don’t view myself to be up to those standards of whatever position I’m in,” he said. “I’m never going to admit that I would not do a good job, because then I wouldn’t believe in myself.

“[But] I care about winning. I really want to win a World Series. And if I can help a team win in any sort of form, that’s what I’m willing to do. Me pitching like [expletive] isn’t going to help me or the team or anybody. It’s only just going to make the situation worse. So I have two decisions: I can pitch like [expletive], or I can go out there and do the best I possibly can, own what I have, and try to be better than anybody else.”


Once out of the rotation, improvement took two chief forms for Pivetta. First, he made some small mechanical tweaks to re-establish his fastball velocity and command.

At the start of the year, he was drifting down the mound too soon, resulting in a mistimed delivery where he would rush his arm swing to catch up to the position of his front leg and thus lose both power and command. Once out of the rotation, he got back to keeping his weight on his back leg atop the pitching rubber, re-synching his motion and producing rapid improvements in velocity and strike-throwing.


Additionally, after years of trying unsuccessfully to identify a fourth pitch to complement his four-seam fastball, curve, and slider, Pivetta — who had toyed with changeups, splitters, and cutters — finally found a fourth offering that took advantage of his remarkable ability to spin the ball: a sweeper.

The pairing of a sharp, 87-88-mile-per-hour slider with about five to six inches of movement across the plate with an 84-85 m.p.h. sweeper with about 14 inches of glove-side movement helped Pivetta transform from being vulnerable against righties (.278 average, .481 slugging, 19 percent strikeout rate through May) to dominant against them (.103, .124 slugging, 38 percent strikeout rate).

“It gives hitters different looks,” pitching coach Dave Bush said. “He’s able to have three different shapes and three different velos [on breaking balls]. That’s what makes it work.”

With a sharper, four-pitch arsenal, Pivetta reasserted himself as a key, versatile contributor to the pitching staff who has contributed in nearly every form imaginable: single-inning reliever, once-through-the-order multi-innings reliever, bulk-innings reliever contributing four to six innings after an opener, and more recently, as a traditional starter — the role in which he’ll perform Tuesday in Washington against the Nationals.

Despite the lack of a fixed job description, Pivetta has excelled. Since the beginning of June, he has a 2.63 ERA with a 36 percent strikeout rate (second highest in MLB among pitchers with 40-plus innings) while opposing hitters have a .156 average against him (lowest in MLB).


What to call the role?

“I would probably call it a hybrid pitcher,” Pivetta said. “If this is what the team needs, I’m in. I play for the Boston Red Sox. I want to win with the Boston Red Sox. And if this is the way that helps the team win, and I can get on the mound as much as possible, then this is the way it’s going to be right now.”
Related: ‘Does Boston actually have a shot at the playoffs this year?’ and other questions about the Red Sox answered

Manager Alex Cora likened Pivetta’s role to that of David Price in the 2018 postseason. At a time when he’s carrying one of the largest workloads on the staff, Pivetta’s willingness and physical ability to perform any role has allowed the pitching staff to withstand decimation.

“He’s been great,” Bush said. “It’s not easy for him. It’s not easy for anybody to do this. That’s why it’s kind of an uncommon role, but he’s adapted really well. He enjoys going out and competing.

“He understands that every time he gets the ball, he has a chance to pitch in valuable situations for us.”

Asked what his success in this one-of-a-kind role might mean for his future beyond 2023, Pivetta shrugged. His focus is simply on the opportunity at hand — to pitch professionally, and invest himself completely in the efforts of his team to get back to the postseason.

“We only have this moment, we only have this year, we only have this month, this day. So I’m just focusing on right now,” he said. “The future — whatever happens, happens. I’m just always grateful to have a big league job, to be on a big league team, and living my dream. At the end of the day, I get to pitch on a big league mound. I think that’s cool.


“I really just want to go out and do good for my teammates and pitch well. I don’t have time to worry about all of the outside noise. The only thing I can do is control when I get between the lines, going out, executing my pitches, putting up zeros, getting back in the dugout as soon as possible to get our offense to go. That’s my job and that’s where we’re at, helping this team win.”

Nationals put recent surge up against Red Sox
FLM

The Washington Nationals will take aim at their fourth consecutive victory when they host the Boston Red Sox in the opener of a three-game series Tuesday.

As the Red Sox battle for an American League wild-card spot, the trip to Washington does not appear to be as easy as it once looked. The Nationals are 19-12 since July 8 and have swept three series since July 21 after going nearly two years without earning a sweep.

The latest sweep was completed with an improbable comeback Sunday. Trailing 7-2 and unable to get key hits over the first eight innings, the Nationals rallied for sixth runs in the ninth to walk off the Oakland Athletics 8-7.

"This team has been relentless," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. "They play hard. They don't give up. We talk about playing hard for 27 outs, and it shows. You can see it. We're never out of it."

Martinez could have been speaking about Saturday's game as well, when Washington tied the game with a run in the eighth before Keibert Ruiz won it with a homer in the ninth.

Washington's Josiah Gray (7-9, 3.69 ERA) is set to pitch the opener against Boston's Nick Pivetta (8-6, 4.16). Gray is 0-1 with a 9.72 ERA over his past two starts.

In his most recent outing, Gray gave up four earned runs in 4 2/3 innings in a no-decision against the Phillies. He left the game one batter after surrendering a two-run homer to Bryce Harper.

"Had to grind through it, definitely," Gray said. "Had some good stuff out there but had to grind through it. There are some good hitters. Just one bad pitch to Harper there. If I could have that back, it might be a little different outing."

Gray allowed one run over six innings of a no-decision in his only previous start against Boston in 2021.

Pivetta will be making his third start in his last four appearances. In the previous two starts, he went 1-1 while allowing five runs on nine hits over 12 1/3 innings. He struck out 18 batters and walked two.

Overall, Pivetta has been on an extended roll, compiling a 2.53 ERA over his past 14 outings while holding opponents to a .155 batting average.

"I think it's just all going with the same mindset," Pivetta said switching between 10 starts and 18 relief appearances this season. "Every inning is like the seventh inning and just continuing to pitch until I get taken out of the game."

Pivetta will be looking to improve on an abysmal lifetime mark versus Washington. In 12 appearances (nine starts) against Washington, Pivetta is 1-7 with a 9.54 ERA. In 38 2/3 innings he has allowed 57 hits with 23 walks.

Boston has won four of five, including two of three from the visiting Detroit Tigers over the weekend. Adam Duvall hit a three-run homer and Trevor Story had four hits in a 6-3 win on Sunday.

In his fifth game back from elbow surgery, Story had three doubles, scored twice and stole two bases. He became just the third Boston player to record three extra base hits and two stolen bases in a game, joining John Valentin (1995) and Dom DiMaggio (1941), according to MLB.com.

"Definitely more comfortable," Story said. "At-bats are much better, and I'm more consistent with the timing. And driving the ball the other way, that's always a good sign for me."

--Field Level Media

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