During the second half last season Nick Pivetta emerged as one of the most overpowering pitchers in baseball, becoming one of only five to record 100 strikeouts after the All-Star break despite spending the majority of that time coming out of the bullpen.
If Sunday was any indication, Pivetta is ready to pick up where he left off.
In his final start of the spring, Pivetta recorded nine strikeouts over six strong innings in the Red Sox eventual 8-6 win over the Minnesota Twins. The right-hander allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk, and Reese McGuire hit a go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the eighth to turn a 5-4 deficit into an 8-5 lead. The Twins would get a run back in the ninth and loaded the bases with two outs before the Red Sox shut the door.
Pivetta cruised out of the gate, facing the minimum into the bottom of the third before the Twins got an infield single, benefitted from a fielding error by Rafael Devers and scored on an RBI single by Edouard Julien with one out in the frame. Matt Wallner followed that with a two-run home run in the fourth, but Pivetta took over from there, striking out the last three batters he faced in the sixth to close out the outing strong.
Outside of C.J. Cron at first base instead of Triston Casas, the Red Sox played all of their projected starters against the Twins. Jarren Duran led the way by going 3 for 4 with two doubles and an RBI, and Trevor Story went 1 for 3 with three RBI, including a two-run single and a sacrifice fly.
Minnesota took a 5-3 lead after Pivetta left when Carlos Correa tagged Josh Winckowski for a two-run double in the seventh, but Story cut the deficit to one with his sac fly and McGuire delivered the exclamation mark with his eighth inning grand slam.
With the win the Red Sox and Twins officially finish their Chairman’s Cup series in a draw, with the two sides going 3-3 against one another in Grapefruit League play. Boston (17-11-2) now has one game remaining in Fort Myers before breaking camp and heading west to Texas, where the Red Sox are scheduled to play two final exhibitions against the Texas Rangers on their way out to Seattle for Opening Day.