‘Just what I live for’: Nick Pivetta joins rare company in Red Sox’ loss to Dodgers

Pivetta struck out Shohei Ohtani three times as he pitched six shutout innings in Friday's game.

The Red Sox weren’t able to beat the Dodgers on Friday night, falling 4-1. However, they got a much-needed quality start from Nick Pivetta.

Pivetta threw six shutout innings, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out eight Dodgers hitters in his outing. Three of those eight strikeouts came against arguably the best hitter in baseball, getting Shohei Ohtani to whiff three times.

Pivetta got Ohtani to chase at a high fastball for his first two strikeouts against the Dodgers star, pitching fastballs in the mid-90s that were just above the zone. His third strikeout of Ohtani was an 89 mph cutter that was high in the zone after getting him to whiff at a cutter low in the zone earlier in the at-bat.

With Friday’s performance, Pivetta joined some rare company. He became the second pitcher this season to strikeout Ohtani three times in a game, joining Rays pitcher Aaron Civale, according to The Boston Globe‘s Alex Speier. He also joined Pirates phenom Paul Skenes as the only pitchers to get Ohtani to swing-and-miss at five pitches in a game in 2024.

While facing Ohtani might seem daunting, Pivetta said he enjoys battling hitters like him.

“I play this game to play the best at all times,” Pivetta told reporters following the Red Sox’ loss. “He’s one of the best, if not the best. So, I enjoy matchups like that. I enjoy times like that. It’s just what I live for.”

Pivetta’s mindset to get Ohtani to strikeout as often as he did was also pretty simple: just get ahead in the count.

“I was just trying to get ahead of him and get into advantageous counts and see where my stuff plays,” Pivetta said. “I was able to execute pitches at the right time.”

In addition to striking out Ohtani three times, Pivetta also got Dodgers stars Freddie Freeman and Will Smith to whiff at his pitches on Friday. His performance wasn’t much of a fluke either, with the Dodgers only having a .151 xBA (expected batting average) against Pivetta, per Statcast.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora was highly impressed with Pivetta’s performance.

“He was outstanding,” Cora told reporters. “Reese [McGuire] did an outstanding job with him tonight, mixing up the pitches, fastball up, the sweeper, the cutter. Obviously, that’s a pretty good lineup. Ninety-something pitches, that was good enough right there.

“He gave us a chance to win.”

Even though Pivetta didn’t get the win, it could serve as a turning point to help him get back on track. He had an OK outing against the Athletics the last time he was on the bump, giving up four runs in 6 2/3 innings. He also struggled in June, failing to make it past the fifth inning on three occasions and had a 5.13 ERA in five starts.

However, this marks the second time in three starts that Pivetta didn’t give up a run. He pitched seven shutout innings against the Marlins on July 4, allowing just one hit in that game.

As he pitched six innings and allowed two hits on Friday, Pivetta also joined some rare Red Sox company. He became the fifth pitcher to have 13 outings where he allowed just two or fewer hits in at least six innings of work in franchise history, according to Speier. He joined Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Jon Lester, and Tim Wakefield in that group.

Of course, no one’s expecting Pivetta to pitch like those guys. But if he can have outings like he did on Friday every few weeks, it’ll greatly benefit the Red Sox’ rotation down the home stretch as they make a playoff push.