Red Sox plan to keep Nick Pivetta in bullpen amid his strong outings and injuries to starting rotation
"At the end of the day, he’s getting innings and he’s been dominating."
Nick Pivetta gave the Red Sox another strong performance out of the bullpen on Friday, but don’t expect him back in the starting rotation soon.
The righty pitched five innings in the Red Sox’ win over the Athletics, allowing two earned runs on four hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts. As the Red Sox placed a third starting pitcher on the injured list this week, it’d be natural to assume that Pivetta would move back into the rotation.
Alex Cora doesn’t share that thought, though.
“He’s not going to start,” the Red Sox manager told reporters following Friday’s game. “If he goes five then it’s the same thing, it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, he’s getting innings and he’s been dominating. So I think the last thing we have to worry about is for him to become a starter. He’s going to get a lot of outs.”
Looking at the numbers, it’s hard to think that continuing to pitch Pivetta out of the bullpen would be a bad idea. Since his move to the bullpen in mid-May, Pivetta has gone 2-2 with a 2.79 ERA, a 0.931 WHIP, and 39 strikeouts in 29 innings pitched over 14 outings.
Still, the Red Sox are down three starters for the foreseeable future with Chris Sale, Tanner Houck, and Garrett Whitlock all on the injured list. And Pivetta’s arm has also been stretched back out again to the point where he could pitch long enough to start games, ramping up his workload over his last two relief appearances as well.
Yet, Cora wants to keep the system they’ve got in place for now with Pivetta pitching out of the bullpen, hinting that there is one advantage of having him pitch the middle five innings of a game as opposed to the first five innings.
“He’s going to get a lot of outs and he knows it,” Cora said. “When? It’s just a matter of how the game dictates.
“We like this structure. It gives you the liberty of bringing him whenever you feel like it as far as the lineup.”
It might be wise for the Red Sox to not mess around with a thing that’s going well for them, too. Prior to his move to the bullpen, Pivetta struggled when he was in the rotation. He went 3-3 with a 6.30 ERA in eight starts, becoming a clear candidate to move to the bullpen when the Red Sox’ starting rotation was briefly at full health in May.
Even though Pivetta initially pushed back on the idea of pitching out of the bullpen, he eventually accepted the role and has thrived. Cora said he thinks that by pitching out of the bullpen, Pivetta has been able to “attack [and] relax a little bit,” adding “We like this version of Nick.”
Cora indicated that Pivetta’s workload could continue to increase, but all he really wants to see is him pitch well.
“If he goes out there and gives us six [innings], it’s great, seven [innings], it’s great,” Cora said. “It really doesn’t matter. He’s a reliever now but we know he can go deep into games. It just happens that he starts his game in the third inning.”
The Red Sox will trot out James Paxton for a start on Saturday while Sunday will be another opener. Beyond that, the only other known variables in the Red Sox’ rotation in the interim are Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford with Pivetta coming in to relieve an opener.
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