Sixteen months after he initially signed with the Boston Red Sox, Lucas Giolito prepared for his debut in Toronto's away dugout.
He wiped sweat off his brow as Alex Bregman mashed a second run for the Red Sox in the top of the first inning. Giolito's nerves were palpable as he finally donned his cap and took the field with the internal brace procedure and spring training hamstring tightness in the past.
The righty was a bit shaky to start his first outing in 577 days. Bo Bichette knocked a leadoff single, and Giolito collected two outs before surrendering a walk to George Springer. But he notched a strikeout to get out of the first inning unscathed, and Giolito cruised for most of the night.
Giolto made it through five scoreless innings and collected seven strikeouts, and the Red Sox's bats gave him plenty of room to breathe with an early six-run lead. Sixty-one of his 90 pitches went for strikes. The Blue Jays finally broke through in the sixth frame, though — Daulton Varsho and Alejandro Kirk mashed back-to-back homers, the former going for two runs, to end Giolito's night and spoil his scoreless debut.
Lucas Giolito's anticipated Red Sox debut overshadowed by bullpen implosion
Still, he gave the Red Sox everything they needed to win. The offense also did its part with its six early runs. But, like a game out of the second half of 2024, Boston's bullpen imploded in the seventh inning.
Garrett Whitlock, who'd been rock-solid out of the Sox's 'pen with a 1.72 ERA before his outing in Toronto, let up a three-run homer to Anthony Santander to erase Boston's 6-0 lead. The game remained tied after nine innings and the Red Sox turned to Justin Slaten to get the job done in the 10th frame.
With one out on the board, Slaten intentionally walked Springer and Varsho to set up a force at every base, but the plan backfired. Kirk roped a single above Duran's head in left field and the Blue Jays walked it off. Foghorns echoed around Rogers Centre to put an exclamation point on Giolito's spoiled debut.
A 6-0 lead should always be enough to secure a tick in the win column, but Boston's offense couldn't cash in after the fifth inning and the bullpen couldn't hold Toronto's bats down. Giolito was critical of his first outing in his postgame presser.
“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," Giolito said, according to Ian Browne of MLB.com.
But if he continues pitching like he did on April 30, Giolito will be a huge boost to Boston's rotation, especially after Tanner Houck's early struggles and Walker Buehler's inconsistent starts. Giolito may finally get the career resurgence he hoped for in a Red Sox uniform.