Red Sox's rotation gets a boost from Giolito's strong debut

TORONTO – The road to get back to a Major League mound was, as Lucas Giolito put it, long and arduous.

But as his strong return on Wednesday night demonstrated, it has a chance to be highly rewarding.

And, as Giolito was also reminded, there will be some jarring swings in momentum – not to mention emotions.

In a game the Red Sox lost 7-6 in 10 innings to the Blue Jays after building an early 6-0 lead, Giolito was frustrated by giving up his only three runs of the night in his sixth and final inning.

What really made Giolito’s blood boil is that he had two outs and nobody on base and had George Springer down in the count, 0-2, before walking him. Then came back-to-back homers from Daulton Varsho and Alejandro Kirk, giving Toronto life.

“I thought I pitched well until the sixth,” said Giolito. “Sixth inning, some crucial, crucial mistakes. An 0-2 walk, an 0-2 homer, another homer. We were playing the changeup pretty well to the corners, and I just left them up there. So, it’s something to learn from. Got to finish stronger. Sucks to give the other team momentum like that when you're up big.”

Give credit to Giolito for his accountability. But the fact of the matter is that he put his team in position to win with a quality start (six innings, five hits, three runs, two walks, seven strikeouts).

This was one of those ultimate big-picture, small-picture nights that can happen during a baseball season.

The small picture is that surrendering a 6-0 lead and losing in extras is a gut punch in the moment. The big picture is that Giolito’s return solidifies a Boston rotation that is back at full strength.

“I think if Gio throws the ball like that the whole season, we’re going to be in good shape,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora.

It would have been so fitting for Garrett Whitlock to have preserved Giolito’s lead. The two right-handers were rehab partners for months while returning from the same internal bracing procedure on their ulnar collateral ligaments.

Instead, Whitlock, who came into the contest with a 1.72 ERA in his first 10 appearances this season, served up a game-tying three-run homer to Anthony Santander with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s frustrating,” said Whitlock. “You never want to do that.”

At the same time, Whitlock was thrilled that his friend made it back to the mound. Both pitchers have undergone both Tommy John surgery and the less-invasive internal bracing procedure in their careers.

“Yeah, really proud of him,” said Whitlock. “Really happy that he's back with us and feeling healthy and everything. So, that’s the first thing I said when I went in there and saw him. I was like ‘Hey, congratulations. Welcome back.’ He threw really well, so I’m really happy for him.”

Though Giolito signed a two-year contract with the Red Sox on Jan. 3, 2024, it wasn’t until 16 months later he actually made his debut for his “new” team.

Giolito had planned on being in the rotation to start the season, but that went out the window when he had the most annoying of injuries – straining his right hamstring on the first pitch of his first start of Spring Training.

By the time Wednesday came along, Giolito went 576 days without pitching a game that counted.

Day No. 577 contained more positives than negatives.

There was some uncertainty about how Giolito would perform in his first start back because he didn’t exactly light it up in his five-start Minor League rehab assignment, posting a 1.79 WHIP and a 5.19 ERA while covering 17 1/3 innings.

When the lights came on, Giolito was ready.

“The rehab outings were completely different,” Giolito said. “I was going out there and treating it more like Spring Training. There's no adrenaline, trying to work on some mechanical things. Coming out tonight, I'm happy with how I competed. I'm just not pleased with how I finished. I can definitely finish stronger than that.”

Meanwhile, instead of stretching their winning streak on this road trip to four games, the Red Sox suffered a tough defeat that dropped them to 17-15.

“We’re down because we lost the game,” said Cora. “But like I told [chief baseball officer Craig Breslow], there were a lot of positives today and that’s what I’m taking to the [hotel] room tonight.”