Red Sox Pitcher Brutally Honest About Performance After Rough Start

It was a day to remember for Ceddanne Rafaela and the Boston Red Sox.

It was a day to forget for Red Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito.

While the Red Sox pulled off an 11-9 walk-off win over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday at Fenway Park thanks to an odd home run from Rafaela, they first had to dig out of a hole due to Giolito’s ineffectiveness on the mound.

Giolito coughed up four runs before the Red Sox even had their first at-bats and yielded three more in the next frame before getting pulled just 1 2/3 innings into his outing. The veteran righthander ended up allowing seven runs on eight hits with one walk and one strikeout.

It was a disaster of an outing for Giolito — by far his worst in a Red Sox uniform — and he didn’t mince words about it, either.

“There’s no excuse. It’s super poor, I need to figure it the (expletive) out,” Giolito told reporters, per The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey. “This is the big leagues, you have to have a level of consistency, so I’m going to work toward that.”

Giolito, who owns a 6.42 ERA on the season, has now let up at least six earned runs in three out of his seven starts. He hasn’t been able to string together quality starts, either.

The nine-year vet showed promise in his first start with the Red Sox on April 30 after he missed all of last season due to elbow surgery. Giolito struck out seven Toronto Blue Jays batters in six innings and allowed three runs, but followed that appearance up by surrendering six runs on 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings against the Texas Rangers.

That was just the start of the up-and-down nature of Giolito’s season. He has three starts in which he gave up one earned run or less.

Giolito will need to bounce back the next time he takes the mound — he’s lined up to pitch next Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park. He showed he can do that, but keeping it going after that will be the true test for him.