BOSTON — The American League East is the best division in baseball. Every team has at least 20 wins and every team is above .500. The Boston Red Sox are currently in fourth place with a record of 21-16 and after their last place finish in 2022 - most baseball pundits weren’t expecting much from them. So far though they’ve been a pleasant surprise in the early part of 2023.
But while some aspects of this Red Sox team have been surprising in a good way, there are others that have been surprising in not-so great ways. Namely starter Nick Pivetta who has been struggling so far this season.
On the latest episode of the Locked On Red Sox podcast, hosts Lauren Willand and Jake Ignaszewski, discussed Pivetta’s struggles and wondered if maybe he would be better served being moved into the Red Sox bullpen.
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The Red Sox are playing the Atlanta Braves this week and they lost Tuesday night’s game, 9-3 with Pivetta as the starter. He is 2-3 with a 6.23 ERA in seven starts and even after his performance against the Braves, he’s still slotted to start next Tuesday against the Mariners.
Pivetta gave up seven runs in only four innings while walking three and only striking out two batters. He also threw 90 pitches in those four innings of work. He gave up a home run to Matt Olson in the top of the first on Tuesday.
Ignaszewski said, “The Braves ended up scoring four runs in the first inning. Pivetta’s first four batters: single, home run, walk and a hit batsmen.” He added, “And this got me to thinking as I watched it unravel, could this lead to Pivetta losing his role in the rotation?”
But there’s another part to this story.
It’s not just that Nick Pivetta is struggling, James Paxton is working his way back from injury and the Red Sox signed him to be a starter. And, of all the guys who have made starts for the Red Sox so far in 2023, Pivetta has struggled the most. Some guys have also had some rough outings thus far this season, like Corey Kluber and Chris Sale, but they’ve also rebounded a bit. Pivetta has not. And in some ways, it feels like he’s auditioning for his role in the rotation and he’s waiting for a call back.
Ignaszewki brought up the fact that Pivetta seemed to be surprised when the beat writers brought this up to him after the game. Pivetta said, “I don't really understand what you're saying, But I'm just continuing to go out and do my job. I’ve started for this team my whole entire [time with the Red Sox]. I'm going to continue to do that. By the end of the year, I'm going to continue to do that my next year and year in and year out.”
Manager Alex Cora said about Pivetta’s performance on Tuesday night, “Today from the first pitch, it looked like he was a little off,” said Cora. “He wasn’t able to put guys away in a few at-bats with two strikes. Didn’t put them away, and it was one of those where we just move on and be ready for the next one.”
If the Red Sox don’t take Pivetta out of the rotation it’s possible they can option Brayan Bello down to Triple-A because not only is James Paxton returning, but Garrett Whitlock is also on the way back and you can’t have a seven-man rotation, although they may work with a six-man rotation for a bit but that still leaves someone out.
For now, both Pivetta and Bello are scheduled to pitch against Seattle but beyond that? It’s a waiting game.
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