Lucas Giolito Identifies Key To Dominant Stretch

After a rocky start to the season, Lucas Giolito has been throwing the ball at a high level for the Boston Red Sox.

Over his last six starts, Giolito has a 0.70 ERA in 38 2/3 innings. He’s lowered his ERA from 6.42 to 3.36 in that span.

After the game, the righty talked about his outing and identified a major key to his success.

“We did a good job today of getting strike one,” Giolito said. “[The Rockies] actually battled pretty good once they went down 0-2.”

Coming into Wednesday’s game, opponents were hitting just .221 against Giolito after taking strike one.

Against the Rockies, 14 of the 21 hitters he faced went down 0-1. Ironically, two of the three hits he surrendered were in 0-1 counts.

The first pitch strikes set Giolito up for success all night. He spotted his fastball high in the zone consistently and recorded eight whiffs with the pitch, his season high. His 17 whiffs overall were one shy of his best this season.

After his slow start to the season, the righty has looked like the pitcher who once received Cy Young Award votes. His changeup has anchored his arsenal. The swinging strike rate isn’t at a career high, but the overall strike numbers are in line with his best seasons.

Although Giolito is much removed from his “peak”, he looks like the pitcher who was once considered one of the best in the league.