It’s time to call Red Sox’ starting rotation a strength

Going into the season, there were major questions with the Red Sox' starting rotation.

Eduardo Rodriguez and Nathan Eovaldi have been with the organization for quite some time, but Garrett Richards, Nick Pivetta and Martín Pérez were all new and no one really knew what to expect.

Even after a few weeks it could have been fool’s gold, but now almost two months into the season, the starting rotation has turned into a major strength of the team.

It was on full display Friday night when Pérez out-dueled Aaron Nola, the Phillies’ best pitcher, in the Red Sox’ 11-3 win.

They have now won three straight and six of their last eight games.

Their starting pitching is a major reason why.

Pérez was excellent once again Friday night, allowing three runs on five hits over six innings. He struck out seven and walked one to improve to 2-2 on the year.

“Solid again,” manager Alex Cora said to reporters afterwards. “That’s a tough lineup to maneuver with all those righties and he did a good job of elevating his pitches, using his changeup, his stuff was crisp. For him to go six [innings], it put us in a good spot and we were able to stay away from certain guys and just another good one. He’s been doing that the whole time. … So I think overall in every outing he’s given us a chance and that’s what we wanted.”

One of the biggest keys for the Red Sox’ rotation, especially of late, is pitching deep into games. Sox starters have now gone at least five innings in 14 straight, the longest active streak in the majors. It’s their longest streak since 2018.

“Every start I go out there and throw more than five innings, we can rest the bullpen,” Pérez said to reporters. “They’ve been throwing a lot too. Our job is to go out there and go more than five and, you know, throw a lot of strikes and a the same time, just have fun, man. It’s a game I know it’s our job too but the way that I see it is just go out there and have fun and enjoy it. That’s our job, just go out there and throw more than five innings every time we have the ball in our hands.”

Red Sox starters have an ERA of 4.04 this season, which ranks 14th in baseball. Not many people would have thought that when spring training concluded.

It could get even better as Eovaldi and Rodriguez are the only two starters with ERAs over 4.00 and that will likely improve as the year goes on.

In what has been a surprising start to the season for the team as whole, the performance of the starting rotation is certainly included in that, too.