Pivetta's laborious start latest in 'mixed bag' of results

BOSTON -- Nick Pivetta kept getting two-strike counts against Guardians batters early in his start on Friday night, only to give up one foul ball after another.

Never was that more evident than during an exquisite 12-pitch at-bat by José Ramírez, in which the star slugger fouled off seven pitches before belting a single to jump-start a two-run rally in the first inning. It proved critical on a night the Red Sox lost, 5-2, in the opener of a seven-game homestand.

The Pivetta-Ramírez battle was the most entertaining sequence of what wound up to be a frustrating night for the Red Sox.

“Yeah, I'm just trying to get out of that at-bat, no matter what, whether it's a hit or hopefully it's weak contact,” said Pivetta. “Obviously, I want to get an out above all else, but just trying to get that at-bat over as soon as I possibly can with just throwing strikes and seeing what he can do with my pitches.”

After pinning the Red Sox to a 3-0 deficit through his first two innings, Pivetta gave up one run over his final three.

Here are some takeaways from a Fenway Friday.

Pivetta ‘a mixed bag’
There was a point in 2022 when Pivetta looked like he was taking his game to the next level. During an 11-start stretch from May 7-June 29, the righty was 8-1 with a 1.95 ERA.

In the 22 starts since then, Pivetta is 3-9 with a 5.83 ERA. In his first five starts this season, he is 1-2 with a 5.11 ERA

“I think it’s been a mixed bag,” Pivetta said. “I feel like I've been competitive, making small increases as I go forward, staying healthy, which I’m happy about. I feel like I'm close to moving, taking a step in the right direction. I’m just going to continue to go out, work on my craft and enjoy playing this game.”

Duran’s triple double
Jarren Duran continues to look like a completely different player than the one who struggled in 2021 and ‘22.

On a night when Boston’s offense was mainly dormant, Duran came through with three doubles -- two off ace Shane Bieber, and the third off elite closer Emmanuel Clase.

“I mean, I took a long look at myself in the offseason mentally and tried to tell myself, ‘You can’t get too high or too low,’” Duran said. “You could be 0-for-5, but you’ve got to walk around like nobody could tell the difference if you’re 0-for-5 or 5-for-5. I’m trying to take that into my game and act like every day is just another day.”

Casas can’t find stroke
The Red Sox had high hopes coming into the season for rookie first baseman Triston Casas, and there’s still plenty of time for it to come to fruition. But at the moment, the left-handed hitter is slumping mightily.

Casas went 0-for-3 with a walk on Friday and now has a line of .133/.283/.293 with three homers and eight RBIs.

“He’s not finishing at-bats, 3-2 counts,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Pull happy, too. He’s a guy that hits the ball in the air to left-center, and he hasn’t been able to do that. He missed a pitch, I think it was the second at-bat, and took a fastball on a 2-2 count after being down 0-2.”

On Friday, Casas hit in the five-hole for Boston. If he is going to stay in such a prominent part of the order, the Red Sox will need to start seeing some results soon.

Crawford comes through again
While a Boston starter -- this time Pivetta -- didn’t pitch deep into the game on Friday, Kutter Crawford lessened the impact of that by firing four strong innings of relief.

Crawford allowed three hits and a run on a solo homer, walking none and striking out three while throwing 52 pitches. He saved the rest of the bullpen heading into Saturday.

In the four outings since he was recalled from Triple-A and inserted into the bullpen, Crawford has a 1.17 ERA.

“Kutter obviously was tremendous. That’s a positive,” said Cora.