Red Sox's $38.5 Million Veteran Offers Blunt Assessment Of 'Terrible' Performance

Unfortunately, the guy was throwing batting practice

May 6, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito (54) throws a pitch against the Texas Rangers in the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

Not much is going right for the Boston Red Sox in the past week, and Tuesday night was a low point in the season.

The Red Sox dropped to one game below .500 after a 6-1 loss to the Texas Rangers. Texas, which had been one of the worst offensive teams in the league all season and recently fired its hitting coach, put up 16 hits, including 10 in just 3 2/3 innings against Boston starter Lucas Giolito.

Giolito looked solid in his first game back from injury last Wednesday against the Toronto Blue Jays. That was decidedly not the case against Texas, as the righty was bizarrely relying on just two pitches to try and fool a big-league lineup.

Of Giolito's 74 pitches, all but two were either a four-seam fastball or changeup. He mixed in exactly one slider and one curveball.

Giolito wasn't mincing words when asked to describe his own performance.

“It was terrible,” Giolito said after the game, per NESN. “I gave up a bunch of base hits in a row. That’s not doing my job.”

Giolito was dancing out of trouble at times early in the start, but the fifth inning was when the levee broke. He allowed seven hits and five earned runs before he was pulled for reliever Brennan Bernardino with two outs.

So why didn't Giolito try anything else in his arsenal, given that his fastball and changeup clearly weren't fooling the Rangers' hitters?

“Probably could have tried,” Giolito said. “Looking back on it, it’s like maybe lean on the slider more, see if we can get that going. I have the ability to pitch with two pitches, but they have to be good and they weren’t good today. So, they made me pay for it.”

Giolito, who signed a two-year, $38.5 million contract with the Red Sox before the 2024 season, now has an 8.38 ERA through two starts. He's got time to prove he can be better, but that contract investment is in danger of aging very poorly if this season turns out to be a bad one.

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