BOSTON — Starter Lucas Giolito threw 6 scoreless innings in the Red Sox’ 10-2 win over the Colorado Rockies at Fenway Park on Wednesday.
He has allowed just three earned runs in 38 ⅔ innings (0.70 ERA) over his past six starts.
But Giolito was quick to shout out catcher Carlos Narváez “and the defense.”
“Especially that one play we had — ball off the wall, relay in,” Giolito said.
The Red Sox were ahead just 1-0 when they cut down the potential tying run at the plate to end the top of the fourth inning.
Center fielder Jarren Duran barehanded Michael Toglia’s double off the Green Monster. He threw to cutoff man Trevor Story who fired a strike from behind second base to catcher Carlos Narváez to throw out Tyler Freeman who tried to score from first base.
“Between JD and Trevor — to get the (runner) was huge,” Giolito said.
There were actually two crucial throws that ended innings.
Narváez threw out Jordan Beck trying to steal second base to end the first inning, his MLB leading 19th catcher caught stealing.
Narváez’s arm was the one area of his defense that the Red Sox felt needed to improve when they acquired him from the Yankees in December. They got the pitching department involved during spring training to help Narváez improve his throwing mechanics.
He’s in the 100th percentile among major league catchers in caught stealing above average (6).
Manager Alex Cora said he thinks Narváez’s footwork has made him so good at throwing out runners.
“His footwork is really good,” Cora said. “If you see him during pregame, when we’re taking groundballs, he goes to second and short and he has good footwork. The exchange is quick but I think it starts with his feet.”
Narváez also crushed his longest home run of the season in the second inning to put Boston ahead 1-0. It went 434 feet and left his bat at 108.3 mph.
“I thought we were getting a defensive catcher that was going to grow into probably an everyday player with time — not this year,” Cora said. “But Connor (Wong) goes down with the injury and he took the baton and he’s still running with it.
“You’ve gotta give him credit,” Cora added. “For a guy that nobody expected this, he worked hard to get to this point offensively. Especially here (at Fenway). He does a good job pulling the ball in the air and taking advantage of the wall. He can shoot the ball the other way. And then behind the plate, that throw early in the game, framing pitches, blocking pitches, it’s been fun to watch.”
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