Lucas

Giolito

Giolito’s 43 pitches today produced nine hard-hit balls and one missed swing. There just isn’t anything here to be encouraged about. In his best years, Giolito struck out over 32 percent of the batters he faced in 2019 and 2020. That was down to 25-26 percent while he was finishing with ERAs in the high-4.00s in 2022 and ’23. Right now, he’s at 18 percent with his current 6.42 ERA. Given that he’s never been very good about limiting homers or walks, there’s no way he’s going to succeed while missing so few bats, and while there’s hope his slider and changeup will get a little better with more reps, he’s probably not regaining any additional velocity, since he’s already back to where he was in the two seasons before he got hurt. The Red Sox won’t move on yet, but they might benefit from doing so. Giolito is due to make his next start against the Rays.

The bases were empty when Giolito was pulled in the fifth, but Alex Cora decided against letting him face Matt Olson for a third time. It’s kind of hard to blame him: Including his 1-for-2 tonight, Olson is 8-for-11 with four homers in 14 career plate appearances against Giolito. The move cost Giolito a chance at a win, but the Red Sox did prevail in the end. Giolito, currently 1-1 with a 4.78 ERA in six starts, will get the Angels next.

Giolito came up big with the Red Sox wanting a long outing after Hunter Dobbins’ four-inning effort in the first game. He struck out six and walked two while throwing 99 pitches. It’s Giolito’s third quality start in five outings for Boston, though since he gave up six runs apiece in the other two, his ERA stands at 5.27. He’ll likely make his next start Friday or Saturday in Atlanta.

Once again, the two sides will attempt to make up the game as part of a split doubleheader in Boston on Saturday. Expect Lucas Giolito, who was scheduled to start on Friday night, to pitch in one of Saturday’s contests.

The game will be made up Friday as part of a split doubleheader, with the first game starting at 1:35 p.m. ET, and the second game scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Lucas Giolito and Cade Povich were the scheduled starters for Thursday, and likely will start one of the two games Friday.

Giolito had very good velocity for the second outing in a row, but it didn’t seem to matter. He gave up six balls hit at least 104 mph, including homers of 112, 110 and 108 mph. It brings his total to five homers surrendered in 20 1/3 innings this season. That makes for an even worse pace than he was one in 2023, when he gave up a league-high 41 homers in 184 1/3 innings. He’ll face the Orioles next.

The unearned run was his own fault, as he tried to go to third on a sac bunt and threw the ball past Alex Bregman, allowing the runner to come around to score. He still had two on with none out after that play, but he escaped the jam by retiring Jonathan India, Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino in order. Giolito’s velocity was far better today after a poor showing last week; he averaged 94.0 mph with his fastball, compared to 91.6 mph in the loss to the Rangers. He was at 93.2 mph in his season debut Apr. 30. We’d like to see more consistency before trusting him in mixed leagues, but today’s outing was quite encouraging.

Giolito averaged 93.2 mph with his fastball in his return from elbow surgery last week, which was right in line with his previous norms and quite encouraging. Tonight, though, he was down to 91.6 mph, and he was pretty well lit up as a result. Hopefully for Boston’s sake, it will prove to be aberration. He’s slated to face the Royals next.

Giolito retired 11 consecutive batters at one point during his long-awaited Boston debut before the Blue Jays finally got to him with two outs in the sixth when Alejandro Kirk and Daulton Varsho connected for back-to-back homers. He threw 61 of 90 pitches for strikes, finishing with a robust 33 percent CSW. He displayed some impressive precision and command of his arsenal, leaning heavily on his fastball/changeup combination. He’s worthy of a speculative roster spot in all fantasy formats. He’ll square off against the Rangers on Tuesday in his next outing.

Giolito will finally make his Red Sox debut after missing all of 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery an suffering a hamstring issue before the start of the 2025 season. The 30-year-old right-hander has the stuff to be an effective option, but fantasy managers may want to take a wait and see approach before adding him to the roster.