Red Sox: Nathan Eovaldi’s complete game shows Alex Cora’s willingness to adapt

Boston Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi pitched a complete game

On the heels of a gut-wrenching loss ruined by an abysmal bullpen performance with a doubleheader on the slate, the Boston Red Sox needed Nathan Eovaldi to go deep in his start. The right-hander didn’t disappoint.

Eovaldi recorded the first complete game of his career in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader. He allowed three runs, only two of which were earned, while scattering seven hits and a walk over his nine innings on the mound.

Considering he had already matched his season-high of 101 pitches through eight innings, it was fair to wonder if Eovaldi would keep the ball for the ninth. After watching his bullpen cough up a six-run lead the previous night, manager Alex Cora wasn’t going to risk spoiling Eovaldi’s gem.

This game belonged to Nate. Even when he allowed a base hit to lead off the ninth, the manager’s confidence in his starter never wavered. Eovaldi struck out Ryan Mountcastle and induced a game-ending double play from Rougned Odor. He needed only seven pitches to finish the frame, leaving him with a career-high 108 pitches.

According to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, Eovaldi appreciated that his manager had faith in him to finish the job.

“It definitely means a lot to me, especially with how the game’s changing now, the injuries I’ve had in the past,” Eovaldi said. “I know they’re having my best interests there by protecting me, but it means a lot to be able to go out there. Everybody wants to go out there and finish the games they start. For that one to be my first, it means a lot to me.”

If his situation had presented itself a few weeks ago, Cora might not have let Eovaldi go the distance. Earlier this season, the manager had a short leash for his starters. Red Sox starting pitchers rarely lasted beyond five or six innings and going more than seven was essentially uncharted territory this season.

The caution with the rotation’s workload was partially influenced by spring training being shortened by the lockout, leaving pitchers less time to ramp up their pitch counts. That wasn’t the whole story though. Pitch counts were almost irrelevant. Cora’s philosophy was that he wanted to avoid having their pitchers face opposing lineups for a third time through the order.

This plan followed a league-wide trend with most teams leaning heavier than ever on their bullpen. Get 5+ solid innings from your starter and then shorten the game with a variety of relief pitchers who can shut down lineups one inning at a time. It’s a sound plan, in theory, but you need a reliable bullpen to make it work.

The Red Sox do not have that type of bullpen. Boston’s bullpen ranks 21st in the majors with a collective 3.96 ERA. They have more losses by relief pitchers (13) than saves (8) and they lead the majors with 11 blown saves. The Red Sox also lead the majors by a comfortable margin with 36 meltdowns, a win-probability statistic measured by FanGraphs. A reliever is charged with a meltdown if their performance lower’s the team’s win probability by at least six percent.

There aren’t enough reliable arms in Boston’s bullpen that Cora can consistently trust to finish the game. A few of their relievers have been solid, for the most part, but depending on who is available in the bullpen that day, riding the starter as long as you can might be the best option – even if it goes against what the analytics say about taking another trip through the opposing lineup.

Cora could have stubbornly stuck to his plan, trusting the analytics would steer him in the right direction more often than not. Letting Eovaldi finish this game, while setting career-highs in the process, shows the manager’s willingness to adapt.

We saw the first sign of this adjustment a couple of weeks ago when Nick Pivetta tossed Boston’s first complete game of the season. It was the first complete game by any Red Sox pitcher since 2019. One instance can be brushed off as an outlier, two starts a trend.

This doesn’t mean that Cora is going to run his starters into the ground. He can’t be afraid to go to his bullpen when he needs to. It does appear that the manager is relaxing on his policy of avoiding a third trip through the order by his starters though. Cora is a strong communicator who does an excellent job of keeping tabs on how his players feel. If his starter is locked in and still throwing strong, he’s able to trust them to deliver.

It might not be his preferred strategy, but until Boston gets more reliable reinforcements for their bullpen, Cora must adapt. He’ll need to pick his spots wisely when it comes to leaning on his starter but recent results prove that he’s at least willing to deviate from the original plan.