Nothing to See Here, Just Nick Pivetta Lighting it up for Boston
The Boston Red Sox went up 2-1 in the ALDS after a 13-inning epic this weekend.
There was a ridiculous play where the Rays appeared to have taken the lead, but had a run wiped out when a ball was driven off the right field wall, hit Hunter Renfroe, and then bounced OVER the wall, resulting in a ground rule double:
This ball just bounced off of the outfielder and went over the fence. They're calling it a ground rule double… pic.twitter.com/B7x4vjzF5h
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) October 11, 2021
Insane. Don’t think I’ve ever seen something like that before.
For a stretch of a couple innings, it came down to a duel between Nick Pivetta and David Robertson. No joke. They pitched six combined as the game went into extras, and Pivetta gave up three hits and no runs while striking out seven and walking just one batter in four full innings of work.
Check this out:
It's Nick Pivetta's world.
He just lets us live in it. pic.twitter.com/cDKEaViY5c
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 11, 2021
There are only five Red Sox pitchers to allow zero runs in 4+ innings of postseason relief. Pivetta is now one of them. Pedro Martinez is another. And David Price, in 2017. For the entire series, Pivetta is 1-0 with eight and two-thirds innings pitched. He’s given up seven hits, three runs, three walks, and struck out seven.
Same Pivetta, mind you, who finished his Phillies career with a 5.50 ERA and did not pitch a single postseason game, because the Phils haven’t been to the postseason since Obama’s first term. Pivetta played in 31 games this regular season for Boston, posting a career-low 4.53 ERA and striking out 175 batters in the process.
Go figure.