Déjà vu: Pivetta ties franchise record with 8 straight K's, takes loss?

BOSTON -- Nick Pivetta joined the rarest of company on Wednesday night at Fenway Park, but one shaky inning prevented him from being able to take much enjoyment from it.

For the second time this season, Pivetta struck out eight consecutive batters to tie a franchise record set by Roger Clemens on April 29, 1986.

And just like when Pivetta accomplished that feat in a loss to the Tigers on May 30, he again took the loss, this time 5-2 to the Athletics.

Per Elias, Pivetta is just the second pitcher since 1900 to strike out at least eight straight batters in two games in the same season, joining Jacob deGrom (2021).

In fact, the only other pitchers since 1900 to do this more than once in their careers are deGrom (four times) and the legendary Nolan Ryan (twice).

“It's good. Always grateful to be in that position to be able to do things like that,” Pivetta said.

The third inning, however, wasn’t so good. That was when Pivetta gave up three hits, two walks (including one with the bases loaded) and three runs.

The damage started when Ceddanne Rafaela couldn’t cleanly field a grounder that would have made it two outs and nobody on base in the inning. It was ruled an infield hit, and Pivetta wasn’t able to minimize the damage in that one frame when things just got away from him.

“That bad inning, he lost it,” manager Alex Cora said. “He didn’t throw strikes. He put himself in a bad spot. That inning, mechanics or whatever it was, he was off.”

Pivetta wasn’t able to shed much light on what happened during his brief lapse.

“I just didn't throw strikes in the third inning. That’s about it,” Pivetta said.

As he can do at times, Pivetta locked it back in emphatically. He struck out Zack Gelof to end the third. And in the fourth, he was one pitch from an immaculate inning, striking out the side on 10 pitches instead of nine. Pivetta also struck out the side in the fifth and punched out the first batter in the sixth to join exclusive company. A lineout to third by Lawrence Butler prevented Pivetta from passing Clemens for the club record of consecutive K’s in a game.

Even the A’s were trying to make sense of it all.

“It was a weird game,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said. “We scored those runs and then we had eight consecutive strikeouts, when he just shut us down. He’s having a pretty decent year. He has that ability to strike guys out with the breaking ball and he utilized it very well. Once we scored those runs, you could see a different guy.”

Pivetta finished his pre All-Star break portion of the season with a record of 4-6 to go with a 4.18 ERA while registering 88 strikeouts and 20 walks in 75 1/3 innings. The righty added in a 1.14 WHIP while holding the opposition to a .232 average.

Considering that Pivetta was out from early April to early May with a flexor strain in his right elbow, he is satisfied with how he is trending heading into the second half.

“Not too bad given the situation coming back from the IL,” Pivetta said. “I feel like I’m getting much healthier, much stronger from here out. Hopefully things stay in the same zone, but I think there’s more to improve on. I think there’s a better half for me coming in the second half so I’m looking forward to that.”

Lefty struggles continue
Despite Wednesday’s loss, the Red Sox are in the midst of one of their best stretches of baseball of the season. But one area the club knows it needs to improve on is success against lefty starters.

Boston is 38-27 against righty starters but 12-14 against southpaw starters.

JP Sears was the latest lefty to largely shut down the Sox, allowing just one run (a Rob Refsnyder homer) over 5 2/3 innings.

“We’ve just got to keep working,” Cora said. “Obviously the last few lefties have been pretty good against us. The last one we hit [hard] was the one in Cincinnati, [Nick] Lodolo, so just keep working and try to find it.”

Perhaps chief baseball officer Craig Breslow will add a right-handed bat by the July 30 Trade Deadline. Vaughn Grissom, another righty, could be back within a few weeks from a right hamstring injury that has kept him out since June 2.