Red Sox Jekyll and Hyde pitcher Nick Pivetta brings the good stuff vs Pirates

Suddenly the Boston Red Sox starting rotation is looking solid.

In a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night, Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta was the good version of himself, pitching seven scoreless innings allowing just one hit while striking out six and walking three.

The strong pitching performance not only followed the dominance Michael Wacha displayed on the mound in the series finale against the New York Yankees, but also ended a stretch of starts in which Pivetta went 0-4 with a dismal 7.24 ERA.

Tuesday night’s version of Pivetta is exactly what the Red Sox need if they are going to make a push for the American League Wild Card.

In improving his record to 9-9 on the season, Pivetta’s Jekyll and Hyde type season symbolizes the team’s season as a whole with stretches in which they look like one of the top teams in the American League and stretches when they look like the worse.

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Nick Pivetta is an X-factor in the Boston Red Sox starting rotation going forward

As the team is looking for consistency in winning, Pivetta is searching for that consistency and reliability on the mound.  As Tuesday night proved, when he is on, he is on.

"“He did a good job,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Pivetta, via MLB.com.  “He was able to expand [the strike zone].  He gave us enough.  He felt good about his stuff.  The walks, we’ve got to limit, but overall, a real good one.”"

Unlike previous starts, Nick Pivetta was staked to a nice lead early, which seemed to make him more comfortable on the mound.  With newcomers Eric Hosmer and Tommy Pham right in the middle of all the scoring action in the first couple innings, the Boston Red Sox bats gave Pivetta a quick 5-0 lead in the game and the Red Sox righty took it from there.

Effective and dominate on the mound, Pivetta pointed at that quick lead as a reason he was able to go out and execute the way he did.  More relaxed, the Boston Red Sox righty was able to go out there and really attack the strike zone, something he has been missing during his stretch of bad starts.

"“It allows you to really go out and just pitch naturally and attack the strike zone,” Pivetta said.  “It makes a difference.”"

Now, if Pivetta can just find that same comfort on the mound when the offense is not giving him early lead, this Red Sox team may open some eyes now that the offense and pitching seem to finally be on the same page as far as productivity.

While the Pittsburgh Pirates aren’t the Toronto Blue Jays when it comes to offensive potency, it is still a good sign that Pivetta and the Boston Red Sox as a team took care of a team they should beat, especially coming off a series in which they were very competitive against their AL East rivals.

Now is the time to get hot and bring back some of that June baseball that had the Red Sox looking like a real contender.