Pivetta cleared to join team, pitch finale

CHICAGO -- One week after the Red Sox placed Nick Pivetta on the COVID-19 injured list, the righty will start Sunday’s finale of a three-game road series against the White Sox.

Pivetta was cleared to fly to Chicago on Saturday.

The reason Pivetta is able to come back so soon is because he was vaccinated earlier this season, so he didn’t have to stay quarantined for a minimum of 10 days.

The return of Pivetta comes at a key time for the Red Sox, who lost ace Chris Sale for likely two turns in the rotation due to the lefty ace testing positive for COVID on Thursday.

For Pivetta, this will be his first start since Aug. 30, meaning he will be pitching on 12 days of rest.

There wasn’t much that Pivetta could do to ramp up over the last week, so it will be interesting to see how he performs on Sunday.

“As you know, they have to be isolated. A lot of repetitions in the room, I guess,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “He’ll toss today out there with us.”

For the season, Pivetta is 9-7 with a 4.67 ERA in 26 starts. However, he struggled in six August starts, going 1-3 with a 5.27 ERA. Perhaps the break will benefit Pivetta.

“We’re confident,” said Cora. “Kind of like, some of these guys are going to benefit, if you see it the positive way. We never want any of these guys to get COVID, but maybe it’s going to benefit him. Reset, and help us get into October.”

Dalbec on time, doing damage
Rookie first baseman Bobby Dalbec has gone from one of the worst hitters on the Red Sox to one of the best. The turnaround has been startling.

In 278 at-bats from Opening Day until July 31, Dalbec had a line of .216/.260/.399 with 11 homers, 13 walks and 111 strikeouts.

In 90 at-bats from Aug. 1 through Sept. 10, Dalbec’s line was .333/.417/.778 with 10 homers, 30 RBIs, 11 walks and 27 strikeouts.

“He’s done an amazing job of being on time,” said Cora. “That’s the bottom line. Obviously last year, he was driving the ball to right-center, to right field. He hit a lot of home runs that way and this year, there were a lot of empty fly balls to right field.

“Little by little, he’s been making adjustments. At one point, he choked up. I just believe that now, he’s on time. When you do that and you recognize pitches, your swing decisions are a lot better. You’re not late. When you’re late, you make every pitch the same. The fastball, the breaking ball, the changeup, every pitch makes the same. Now there’s separation.

“And you can see it. He lands, he sees and he reacts. He’s been able to pull the ball with power and the quality of the at-bats are much, much better. The strikeout rate is going down an the walks are going up and the damage, you see it.”