By the time the sixth inning rolled around Thursday night, this wasn't really about if but rather when.
Nick Pivetta was strutting his way through the Mariners' lineup, having faced the minimum number of batters without giving up a single hit. Meanwhile, the two runs put up by his Red Sox appeared to be plenty (as the 84 percent win probability in the sixth suggested).
Even after back-to-walk two-out walks, Pivetta's stuff and confidence surely seemed good enough to close out Seattle's Ty France after running the count to 2-2.
Suddenly, everything took a hard turn for the Red Sox.
France's liner into left field sailed over the head of Franchy Cordero, who was inexplicably playing a Manny Ramirez-esque depth in the outfield, allowing for a tie game heading into the late innings.
The next thing you knew, Seattle was putting up four 10th-inning runs on the way to a 7-3 victory over the hosts. It was a Mariners win that came despite the visitors managing just three hits, but seven painful walks.
“How many walks did we have? It doesn't matter [how many hits]. Two hits, three hits, if you walk seven guys, you're putting yourself in a bad situation,” Cora said. “It's not about getting hits, it's about getting on base. That's the name of the game and we walked seven guys.”
As obviously impactful as Pivetta's free passes were, the inability of relievers Adam Ottavino and Darwinzon Hernandez to throw strikes provided the true dagger for Cora and Co. Each had two, with Ottavino surrendering the game-tying run (without giving up a hit) in the eighth, and Hernandez imploding to surrender the four extra-inning runs.
Before the game, Cora suggested the high walk total for the Red Sox' pitching staff was somewhat misleading, with his pitchers doing a much better job of pounding the strike zone than in the previous couple of seasons. But a glance at the numbers Friday morning -- showing the Sox' pitchers totaling the fourth-most free passes in all of baseball -- was hard to ignore.
"We've been saying that all along, that somebody has to step up," said Cora when asked about missing some proven set-up men in the bullpen, such as the injured Ryan Brasier. "Bottom line is, we had a lead going into the eighth and we ended up losing the game. We feel like we have capable guys, but people have to step up and do the job."
Then there was the ball hit over Cordero's head.
"He was playing where he was supposed to," Cora said of Cordero. "From the dugout, you can't tell. I'll take a look at it, but he gave the effort. I think it's not about the routes or the way he was playing, I think for how good we pitched today, we didn't pitch well. We walked too many guys, there was a lot of traffic at the end, and we weren't able to put them away."
The good news was Pivetta.
Using a mid-90's fastball, effective slider and out-of-nowhere curveball, the righty -- who looks like an absolute steal for Chaim Bloom -- cruised for much of the night, giving up just the one hit over six innings.
"This guy, he has worked hard on his craft," Cora said of Pivetta, who is 4-0 with a 2.93 ERA and a .206 batting average against since joining the Red Sox. "The season ended last year, he went down there to Fort Myers to keep working, getting better. You see the stuff, he's a lot better than last year, velocity-wise, a tremendous slider. Has put himself in this position. We're very happy with him."
Unfortunately for the Red Sox, the Pivetta positive vibes could only last so long. The 2021 optimism has had to be put on pause.