Nick Pivetta made some Red Sox history with his stellar relief appearance Monday night
BOSTON -- Nick Pivetta would love to be a starter, but he's made the most of his role as a reliver for the Red Sox this season. On Monday night in Oakland, he set some team history with an incredible performance out of the bullpen.
Pivetta was unhittable after entering Monday night's game in the third inning, setting the Athletics down with relative ease over his six innings of work. He didn't allow a single hit during his outing, and fanned a baker's dozen of A's in the 7-0 Boston victory.
Those 13 strikeouts set a franchise record for the most K's by a Red Sox reliever. Pivetta became just the sixth pitcher in Major League history (since 1893, at least) to strike out 13 or more in a relief outing, joining the likes of Randy Johnson and Walter Johnson in the process.
What sets Pivetta apart from those five other historic hurlers is that he's the only one not to allow a hit in his relief outing. He walked a pair of batters after coming on for "opener" Brennan Bernardino, but no Athletics runners reached second base on Monday night.
The righty was downright filthy in his outing, striking out the side three times; in the fourth, the sixth, and the seventh innings. He fanned seven straight batters at one point, punching out 13 of the 20 batters that he faced for the evening. Of his 87 pitches on the night, 58 of them went for strikes.
"I just go out there and I execute what I need to execute," Pivetta said after his record-setting outing. "Just get ahead of guys, compete in the zone, use my stuff in the zone and then expand the zone after that."
Boston manager Alex Cora hinted that Pivetta may soon find himself back in the Red Sox rotation. The team has been relying on just three healthy starters lately in Brayan Bello, James Paxton, and Kutter Crawford, a luxury Boston has enjoyed thanks to a number of off-days on the schedule. But with a stretch of 16 games over 17 days coming up to end July and begin August, the Red Sox may need to turn to Pivetta to start if Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck, and Chris Sale aren't back from injury.
But to his credit, Pivetta has not only embraced his reliever role but thrived in it since being sent to the bullpen. It will eventually earn him a return to the rotation, but on Monday night, it earned him a spot in the Boston record books.
