ATLANTA — Red Sox manager Alex Cora has spoken frequently about the importance of his starters pitching deeper into games. It was unexpected, then, to see him come out to lift Lucas Giolito from Friday’s game against the Braves after just 4 ⅔ innings and 85 pitches in a game Boston led, 2-1.
“I was surprised,” Giolito admitted.
The quick hook, Cora explained after a 5-1 win in the series opener, was not accidental. With the Red Sox reeling (they entered the game with a season-long five-game losing streak), he wanted to manage aggressively. So it didn’t matter that there was two outs and no one on base midway through a one-run game when Matt Olson was due to hit in the fifth. It was Justin Wilson’s turn for a left-on-left matchup.
“The way we’ve been playing, every matchup matters, especially around that time, because we knew we had Whit (Garrett Whitlock) for two (innings),” Cora said. “Getting Olson out there, it was huge.”
Wilson struck out Olson to finish off the fifth.
“He (Giolito) gave us enough,” Cora said. “At that moment, we felt Olson against Willy, that was a matchup we wanted. Willy did a good job.”
Olson has been something of a personal nemesis for Giolito since the two men first faced off in 2018. Entering the night, Olson was 7-for-10 off Giolito with four homers, two walks and two strikeouts. Olson hit an RBI single and then grounded out in his two chances to face Giolito on Friday.
There wouldn’t be a third chance — and Giolito had a theory Olson’s numbers against him were the reason.
“That was my assumption,” he said. “They don’t want me to give up a homer there. I don’t like it, but I’m an employee so we do what we’re told.”
Giolito, after tossing 99 pitches in seven shutout innings Saturday against the Orioles, held the Braves to a single run on five hits while punching out three hitters Friday. He came up one out short of his second win of the season; that went to Whitlock, who pitched two scoreless frames.
“I don’t like it,” Giolito said with a grin. “If I had my choice, I’d be throwing 100+ pitches every game. But we’re in the era of analytics and looking at the third time through, looking at matchups. And the guys in our bullpen are really, really good. So that’s a decision they went with there. It is what it is. The bullpen came in after me and closed the door. They did a fantastic job, as they have been.”
As Giolito noted, the bullpen did pitch quite well. Wilson, Whitlock, Brennan Bernardino, Greg Weissert and Aroldis Chapman combined to hold Atlanta to one hit in 4 ⅓ scoreless frames. It helped that the bullpen was well-rested after the team spent an off day in Atlanta on Thursday.
“I didn’t get to finish the job,” Giolito said. “4 ⅔ for me, it’s like I didn’t really do my job. But I did enough of it to hand it off and the bullpen took care of the rest.
“I’m proud of everybody tonight. We were in a tough spot, losing five in a row, and came out today ready to play.”
