SEATTLE — The Mariners’ Nos. 7-9 hitters all singled off Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito to load the bases with no outs in the third inning Monday.
“At that point, for me, I’ve just gotta turn my brain off and rip it as hard as I can,” Giolito said.
Giolito struck out 10 in six scoreless innings to lead the Red Sox 2-0 over the Mariners here at T-Mobile Park on Monday.
Three of the 10 strikeouts came in the third to escape the bases loaded jam. He struck out leadoff hitter J.P. Crawford swinging on a 95.7 mph four-seam fastball, No. 2 hitter Julio Rodríguez swinging on an 84.3 mph changeup and No. 3 hitter Cal Raleigh swinging on an 82.2 mph curveball.
Turning off his brain included letting catcher Carlos Narváez take over.
“Narvi created a great game-plan to get through that as far as pitch calling, locations,” Giolito said. “And I was just trying to execute right through his glove and we were able to do that and get out of it.”
It was the first time in Giolito’s career he has escaped a bases loaded, no-out jam without allowing a run by striking out the side. And it was the first time a Red Sox pitcher has done it since Brad Ziegler on Aug. 13, 2016 vs Arizona, according to information provided by the team.
Giolito, who allowed just three hits and one walk, said it all started with the fastball.
“Using the heater, being able to throw strikes with it, quality strikes with it, get swing and miss, it gets on the hitters’ minds,” Giolito said. “So it makes it easier to get them in between pitches to where you can now use everything else to get good put aways.”
Giolito got 18 swings and misses: seven with the four-seam fastball, five with his slider, four with his changeup and two with his curveball.
“All four pitches were working pretty good,” Giolito said. “Fastball especially. We have the good attack plan with the heater right now. I’m in a good place mechanically. So we’re able to attack with the heater top of the zone. Sometimes it turns into driving it to the bottom of the zone. We take those. We can work with those. So just utilizing the heater and then that kind of opens the door for getting everything else in there.”
