For the 24th time this season, the Red Sox finished a game with a .500 record. They have now reached their destination at all of the following checkpoints:

1-1

2-2

7-7

9-9

10-10

19-19

22-22

24-24

26-26

27-27

28-28

29-29

30-30

31-31

32-32

33-33

34-34

35-35

70-70

74-74

75-75

76-76

78-78

80-80

We’ll have to see if they can do it again on Sunday and finish the season at 81-81, but boy, would that be appropriate? If not, then I’m assuming it’s because they finally figured out how to split a three-game set.

The highlight of the evening was the good performance by Nick Pivetta, who appeared one last time in what was probably his last appearance in a Red Sox jersey. In classic Pivetta fashion, he looked absolutely great for a brief period of time in this game (he was tied 11 times in a row), but finished the game with a performance that wasn’t quite as good as that spell of dominance suggested.

Tonight that meant two runs were allowed in 6.2 innings of work, and with the offense again anemic, that wasn’t good enough.

Pivetta showed emotion both on the mound and in the dugout after his start, as the best years of his career were in Boston. This exhibit really caught my eye the same day Kenley Jansen decided to pack it up and leave early.

Imagine the mug you’d get if you stuck Nick Pivetta’s crap knife in Jansen’s body.

Speaking of good pitchers, do you know who was also on the mound tonight? Max Fried down in Atlanta. He shut out the Royals for 8.2 innings of scoreless baseball in the middle of a playoff race. Do you remember what it was like to have a guy like that on the mound every fifth day?

I mention this because Fried is a free agent at the end of the year and should definitely be a target. There’s also some symmetry with Pivetta making his final start in a Red Sox jersey that same night. Fried is making his final regular season start in a Braves jersey, and it all happens because there’s no room for Pivetta at the end of the rotation because the Sox actually paid for a real horse at the top.

The Sox were once again listless on offense, as they had been for most of September. They once again reached double digits in scoring and only had one extra base hit all night; a double by Triston Casas in the sixth inning. They have just 61 extra base hits this month after hitting 91 in April, 87 in May, 90 in June, 109 in July and 93 in August. In addition to their bullpen, this power outage is a big reason they are out of the playoff race.

stollen

Nick Pivetta: He hit well enough to escape with a win.

Luis Guerrero: Scoreless in 1.1 innings and still hasn’t allowed a run since being called up.

Vaughn Grissom: Of the Red Sox’s six hits tonight, he had three.

Duds

Trevor story: 0-4 with two strikeouts

Connor Wong: 0-4 with two strikeouts

Zach Penrod: He replaced Pivetta, faced three batters and didn’t get any of them out.

Together, the five best players in the lineup went 2-for-19 with seven strike outs.