BOSTON — Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito was down in the batting cage area when speedster Jarren Duran hit an inside-the-park three-run home run to put Boston ahead 4-1 on Sunday.
Giolito sits there between innings on warm days when he starts.
“We have the monitor so I watched it and it really fired me up,” Giolito said about Duran’s inside-the-parker. “I told myself after that, it’s like, ‘OK. It’s go time now. They don’t get anything else.’”
Giolito earned the win in Boston’s 5-2 victory over the Pirates here at Fenway Park, allowing one run in 6 innings. He gave up more walks (five) than hits (three) but limited the damage while striking out six.
“I just love pitching here,” Giolito said. “Feeling the energy from the crowd and just like the magic of Fenway in general. I think every guy on the roster would say something similar.”
Not only does Giolito love starting games here but he’s also dominant in front of the home crowd. He’s 5-0 with a 0.69 EA (39 ⅓ innings, three earned runs) in his last six starts at Fenway Park dating back to June 10.
He became the first pitcher in franchise history to allow one or zero runs while pitching 6 or more innings in six straight starts at Fenway.
“There’s something special about playing games at Fenway Park, especially the position we’re in, in the playoff race,” Giolito said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Giolito’s streak of 11 straight scoreless innings ended when he lost his control in the fourth inning, walking three straight batters with two outs. He then threw a wild pitch that allowed Nick Gonzales to score from third base, putting the Pirates ahead 1-0.
“It (the start) would have been way better if I didn’t lose my mechanics in the fourth inning,” Giolito said. “I got really out of sync.”
Giolito has had a few innings this year where he has completely lost control but limited the damage and then returned back to normal for the rest of the game.
“Find a way to get out of the inning, first of all,” Giolito said. “And then go in and kind of have a little powwow with Bails (pitching coach Andrew Bailey) and (pitching strategy coach) Devin (Rose) and figure out what might have went wrong. Maybe we’ll look at stuff on the iPad or just kind of talk it out and figure out the mechanical adjustment to take into the next (inning).”
Giolito improved to 9-1 with a 2.26 ERA in his past 15 starts. He has a 3.38 ERA in 22 starts this season.
“He was one of the best pitchers in the big leagues a while ago and he’s feeling great about himself,” Cora said. “There’s a lot of confidence behind (it). And the changeup today was the pitch for him. It helped him from the get-go.”
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