'He's an animal': Pivetta continues his dominance in new role

BOSTON -- Bulk innings?

Perhaps bulk dominance is a better way to describe what Nick Pivetta is doing since he moved into his new role.

On the one-week anniversary of Pivetta’s historic outing in Oakland when he became the first pitcher to strike out 13 batters and allow zero runs in relief, the righty was more routine than spectacular with the succession of zeros he put up in leading the Sox to a 7-1 victory over the powerhouse Atlanta Braves.

Over five scoreless innings -- frames two through six -- Pivetta yielded three hits and no runs while walking one and striking out five. He threw 80 pitches and earned the win after replacing John Schreiber, whose start was held up due to a 1-hour, 40-minute rain delay.

The fact Pivetta's outing came against the team that has the best record (64-35) and arguably the top offense in baseball (first in homers, slugging and OPS) made it even more impressive.

“Yeah, it’s what we're capable of as a staff,” said Pivetta. “You know, it's what we harp on here. Commanding our pitches, pounding the strike zone, getting ahead of hitters, and once you’re ahead of hitters, it makes the game a lot easier. It’s really good to see us do those things.”

Since his “demotion” to the bullpen, Pivetta has a 1.98 ERA over 41 innings, holding batters to a .128 average.

“He’s an animal out of the bullpen,” Red Sox DH Justin Turner said of Pivetta. “He’s been really good for us, pounding the zone, using three, four pitches, keeping guys off balance. I don’t know what happened, but since he moved to the bullpen, his fastball has been a whole different animal for him. He’s ripping it and getting up in the zone and getting a lot of swings and misses underneath it.”

Not only is Pivetta rolling, but so are the 54-47 Red Sox, who have won three in a row, 14 of their past 19 and 21 out of 33.

“I feel like we're playing the right brand of baseball at the right time,” said outfielder Adam Duvall. “We’ve got to keep continuing to build as a team, to continue to get better at the little things and it'll be fun to see how good we can be.”

In between his scoreless bulk innings, Pivetta had a new wrinkle thrown his way when he fired a scoreless frame in Saturday’s win over the Mets. But that didn’t faze him.

“No, I wouldn't say so,” said Pivetta. “I hadn't pitched in five days before, so it just got me in the game. I had two days off before tonight and was able to go out and do what I did today. So I don't think anything affects me at this point.

Nobody can argue with that, given the results.

“He’s very similar to David [Price] in October [of 2018],” manager Alex Cora said. “He wants to work every day. He wants to compete every day. He's ready to go.”

On Tuesday, Pivetta thrived despite not having his “A” stuff.

“Yeah, I think my command was a little bit down tonight, but I was able to execute pitches when I needed to,” Pivetta said. “I was able to make the adjustment. I was able to go out and compete, command the pitches when I needed to. Didn’t walk too many guys so that was positive. As the game went on, I got some early contact and kind of let the game go on from there.”

And that allowed a familiar script to unfold.

“I mean, he's going out there and shoving,” said Duvall. “He's attacking the hitters, attacking the zone. He’s throwing really well. Obviously it's fun to play behind that.”

After Tuesday’s 80-pitch performance, Pivetta likely won’t pitch again until Sunday, the finale of a three-game series in San Francisco.

But if an opportunity comes up before then, Pivetta isn’t going to turn it down.

“Yeah, whenever my name is called from the bullpen, however long I pitch, it’s just what I do,” Pivetta said. “I just go out and try to put us in the best position to win.”