BOSTON — Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito’s season turned around for him while throwing a bullpen session at Yankee Stadium when Boston played there June 6-8.
”I was coming off that really horrible outing against the Angels,” Giolito said after dominating the Blue Jays here Saturday.
Giolito threw 7 scoreless innings in a 15-1 win over Toronto at Fenway Park in his final start of June.
The Angels absolutely crushed the 30-year-old here in his first start of June. The righty allowed seven runs on eight hits while recording just five outs 24 days ago. The Red Sox boarded a flight to New York that evening. While at Yankee Stadium, Giolito said he told pitching coach Andrew Bailey, “We’ve gotta figure something out here.”
They did.
Giolito has allowed just two earned runs in 25 innings (0.72 ERA) in four starts since then.
“We got to work looking at some mechanical stuff, made adjustments,” Giolito said. “That bullpen was like this huge step forward for me where it’s like, ‘OK. I feel like myself again. So we can go and pitch and be competitive.’”
Manager Alex Cora said Giolito now is able to fix his mechanics immediately if they get “out of whack” during a start.
“Before, the way I was throwing, I went out there and whatever I had that day was what I had just because my slot was so out of sync,” Giolito explained. “Whereas now I can misfire a throw and then kind of feel the correction I need to make and then make the adjustment on the very next pitch. And being able to do that really opens the door to being able to have pitchability within a game and work deeper into games.”
Giolito allowed six hits and one walk while striking out five. He threw 58 four-seamers, topping out at 94.9 mph and averaging 93.4 mph. He got five swings and misses with his heater. He added 30 sliders, 15 changeups and two curveballs.
“I gotta use my fastball up in the zone,” Giolito said. “And then getting it close to guys’ hands kind of opens the door for the breaking balls and the changeup to work. Especially with the righties, it’s important that I show that in-pitch to kind of open things up.”
Giolito credited the offense for Saturday’s win. He was handed a 9-0 lead after three innings.
“I want to keep pitching this way, give our team a good chance to win,” Giolito said. “But they didn’t need me today. We were just banging the ball. So sick.”
