Lucas Giolito's first start in a Boston Red Sox uniform won't go down in New England sports lore. He didn't set the world on fire, or overwhelm the Toronto Blue Jays lineup. In fact, look at his final line and you'll have a tough time figuring out what all the fuss is about: The righty gave up three runs on five hits and two walks over six innings of work while striking out seven — hardly flashy, but good enough to depart with a three-run lead. (The fact that Boston's bullpen immediately coughed up that lead ... well, the less said about that the better.)
And yet, if you were a Red Sox fan watching it, you were likely over the moon. Not just because you finally got to watch Giolito pitch more than a year after he signed with the team in the winter of 2023, but because he returned to the mound looking exactly like the Giolito of old — which is exactly what this rotation, and this team, needs most.
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Lucas Giolito is just what the doctor ordered for Red Sox rotation
Boston didn't sign Giolito to be a frontline pitcher; the guy who earned down-ballot Cy Young votes each year from 2019-2021 is long gone as he enters his 30s. They signed him to soak up innings, something he excelled at until recently: The righty threw at least 160 innings each year from 2018 through 2023, with the COVID-shortened 2020 season the lone exception.
Elbow surgery, followed by a hamstring strain this spring, derailed that for a while. But Wednesday night was the full Giolito experience: He allowed two homers in the sixth inning — long a bugaboo for him as a fly-ball pitcher — but still managed to work deep into the game while keeping Boston competitive.
And the reality is, that's all this Boston team needs. The Red Sox loaded lineup is going to win them plenty of games this season. All they need from the pitching staff, and particularly the rotation, is not to screw things up too badly. That seems like a low bar, but it's one Boston's starters not named Garrett Crochet had failed to clear all too often in the early going this season.
Giolito is the ultimate stabilizer, a sturdy veteran who's going to pound the strike zone and knows how ot turn a lineup over multiple times. In a rotation that has extreme variance everywhere else — from Walker Buehler to Tanner Houck to Brayan Bello — that's worth its weight in gold.