Nick Pivetta pitches rare complete game to give Red Sox second straight series win

BOSTON -- One night after Nathan Eovaldi served up five homers in the second inning against the Houston Astros, Nick Pivetta's Wednesday night began in an ominous fashion when the right-hander served up a leadoff home run to Jose Altuve to conclude a 10-pitch battle. The select few fans who had arrived at Fenway Park on time for the early start were well within their rights to let out a concerning groan.

Yet what followed from Pivetta was nothing short of spectacular, as he would allow just one Astro to reach base from that point forward en route to the ultra-rare complete game victory. Pivetta struck out eight batters while allowing the Altuve home run and a ground-rule double to Michael Brantley in the seventh, needing 112 pitches to get through all nine innings.

Pivetta's nine-inning complete game was just the third such occurrence this season across all of Major League Baseball, and the second in the American League thus far. (Reid Detmer's no-hitter was the other.) It was Pivetta's second complete game ever and his first since 2019.

It was also the first complete game by a Red Sox pitcher since 2019, with Chris Sale being the last Boston pitcher to go the distance. Rick Porcello and David Price each threw one complete game in 2018.

"I just feel like I had all of my pitches working. It was just one of those nights, I was competing in the zone, curveball was nice, I was able to utilize the split-finger when I wanted to and just put these guys away when they swung early, so it made it a little bit easier on me," Pivetta told NESN matter-of-factly before walking off the field.

Pivetta was able to retire 18 straight Astros hitters following the Altuve home run, and he explained that he was trying to keep his thought process as simple as possible while doing so.

"I'm just focusing on pitch-to-pitch, inning-to-inning. I'm trying not to make it too complicated out there," he said. "I'm just trying to stick to the fundamentals and do the right things right."

It was Pivetta's third straight strong start, as he's now 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA over 22 innings in his last three outings. He's allowed 10 hits and one walk while striking out 20 batters during that stretch. He had been 0-4 with a 7.84 ERA prior to the current run.

Fortunately for Pivetta and the Red Sox, the Boston offense provided plenty of cushion to secure the victory, giving the Red Sox their second straight series win. The Red Sox had been 1-7-2 in their 10 series this season, having not won a series since taking two out of three in Detroit during their second series of the year.