Nick Pivetta has enjoyed a lot of success since leaving Boston. Coming into Friday night the former Red Sox right-hander was 11-3 with a 2.73 ERA in his first season with the San Diego Padres, both the best marks of his career.
But facing his former team, Pivetta was subjected to an unpleasant reunion.
The Red Sox handed Pivetta one of his worst starts of the season, scoring five runs against their former workhorse en route to a 10-2 win in Friday’s series opener. Boston scored four runs in the top of the fourth to seize control and Connor Wong blew the game open with a three-run double in the eighth.
Walker Buehler penned a gem of his own, tormenting his former NL West rival over six shutout innings.
“He was ahead of hitters, I think there was only one hitter who went to 2-0,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters in San Diego. “Overall a great performance.”
Pivetta cruised through the early innings, limiting the Red Sox to just an Alex Bregman walk his first time through the order, but in the fourth things quickly got away. Bregman led off the inning with a single before Pivetta issued consecutive walks to load the bases with nobody out, and Masataka Yoshida capitalized with a sacrifice fly to break the ice.
Jarren Duran then scored when Pivetta botched a pickoff attempt of Trevor Story at first base, and with two outs Wilyer Abreu stepped up and sent a 2-1 cutter 423 feet into the right field stands for a two-run home run, making it 4-0 Red Sox.
Boston tacked on a fifth run in the top of the fifth when Wong and Roman Anthony led off the inning with back-to-back singles and Wong scored on a Bregman groundout.
“We talked about not striking out today, not striking out and making him earn it,” Cora said. “We did a good job controlling the zone, putting good swings, even in the first few innings we felt like we were in control of the at-bats, we put some good swings on good pitches and credit to the guys, they executed the plan.”
Buehler, who has had a rocky season since replacing Pivetta in the Red Sox rotation, was outstanding. The veteran allowed just four hits, all singles, over his six shutout innings and was quickly able to work his way out of the few jams the Padres got him in.
San Diego’s most notable scoring opportunities against Buehler came in the third and fourth innings, when the Padres got men on first and second only to see their rally cut short after Buehler drew an inning-ending lineout. He finished his outing by retiring seven of the last eight batters he faced.
The Red Sox blew the game open in the eighth, loading the bases on three straight walks against Padres righty Sean Reynolds before Wong cleared the bases with a three-run double. It was Wong’s first hit all season with runners in scoring position, breaking an 0 for 30 streak while more than doubling his RBI total (2) with just one swing.
“It’s always nice when you’re able to produce and be part of the fun,” Wong told NESN’s Tom Caron postgame. “It felt really good.”
The Padres avoided the shutout by scoring two runs in the bottom of the eighth. Red Sox lefty Chris Murphy walked three straight batters of his own and allowed an RBI fielder’s choice by Ramon Laureano and an RBI single by Jake Cronenworth. He wound up walking a fourth batter to reload the bases and was pulled for Garrett Whitlock after recording one out on 34 pitches.
Whitlock struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. and drew a flyout from Luis Arraez to strand the bases loaded and keep things from getting any more uncomfortable. Yoshida hit a two-run shot for his second home run of the season in the top of the ninth to finish the scoring.
Wong and Yoshida led the way offensively for the Red Sox with two hits and three RBI each, and Anthony went 2 for 4 with a walk. Arraez and Cronenworth each had two hits for San Diego and former Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts went 0 for 3.
The Red Sox are now 65-52 on the season, and with the Blue Jays’ loss to the Dodgers are now only three games behind Toronto in the AL East standings. Boston will look to clinch its fifth consecutive series win on Saturday when Lucas Giolito (8-2, 3.57) takes the hill against San Diego’s Michael King (4-2, 2.59).
Sox add catcher
Prior to the game the Red Sox announced they had claimed catcher Ali Sanchez off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays. Sanchez, who has appeared in 46 MLB games over four seasons since 2020, had been designated for assignment by Toronto earlier this week.
Sanchez could potentially provide additional depth at catcher if Carlos Narvaez winds up missing extended time with his sore right knee. Cora told reporters in San Diego that he’ll likely sit out his third straight game on Saturday but the hope is he’ll return for the series finale on Sunday.
Sanchez does not have any minor league options remaining, so he will need to be added to the active roster in the upcoming days.
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