The Red Sox weren’t able to beat the Dodgers on Friday night, falling 4-1. However, they got a much-needed quality start from Nick Pivetta.
Pivetta threw six shutout innings, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out eight Dodgers hitters in his outing. Three of those eight strikeouts came against arguably the best hitter in baseball, getting Shohei Ohtani to whiff three times.
Pivetta got Ohtani to chase at a high fastball for his first two strikeouts against the Dodgers star, pitching fastballs in the mid-90s that were just above the zone. His third strikeout of Ohtani was an 89 mph cutter that was high in the zone after getting him to whiff at a cutter low in the zone earlier in the at-bat.