The Boston Red Sox lost to the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night at Fenway Park.
The 5-2 loss was a rarity of late for Boston, who is now 50-41 on the season. They still remain in possession of the third wild card spot in the American League.
Even though he took the loss by giving up four earned runs over 6.2 innings, Red Sox hurler Nick Pivetta made some awesome baseball history in the outing.
Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com on social media:
Nick Pivetta is the 2nd pitcher since 1900 to strike out at least 8 straight batters in 2 games in the same season, joining:
2021 Jacob deGrom
only other pitchers since 1900 to do this more than once in their *careers* are deGrom (4x) + Nolan Ryan (2x)
After the loss, Pivetta is now 4-6 on the season with a 4.18 ERA. A free agent after the year, there are questions about his future moving forward. Boston would be hard-pressed to trade him, considering they are currently in playoff position, but he also is arguably the best trade chip they have, as multiple contenders would likely want to acquire him.
The 31-year-old is in his eighth big league season with the Philadelphia Phillies and Red Sox. He's 54-65 in his career but played an integral role in helping the Red Sox advance to the 2021 ALCS.
The Red Sox and A's will finish out their three-game set on Thursday night with first pitch slated for 7:10 p.m. ET. Luis Medina pitches against All-Star Tanner Houck.