Red Sox fans will like Nick Pivetta's outlook after Yankees sweep

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The Boston Red Sox left Yankee Stadium with their tails between their legs Wednesday after three straight losses to their American League East rival.

But Nick Pivetta has no interest in waving the white flag.

Pivetta took the loss in Wednesday's series finale, allowing four runs over just 1.2 innings to a New York Yankees team that's won six in a row and 16 of its last 20 games to overtake the Red Sox for second place in the AL East.

Despite the Yankees' historic surge -- Boston led New York by 10.5 games in early July -- Pivetta wasn't exactly keen on pumping their tires Wednesday night.

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"I firmly believe in not giving people too much credit," the right-hander told reporters in his postgame video conference. "You’re going out and competing against them at all times.

"Yes, they have a good lineup, yes they have a good team, but we’re better and we’re going to move forward from this. We just have to do a couple things here and there and we’ll be OK."

Pivetta added a quick acknowledgment that the Yankees are "doing good right now," but his message was clear: There's still plenty of season left, and in his mind, the Red Sox have the talent to snap out of their current funk and beat out their division rival.

Fans had better hope Pivetta's confidence is contagious. Boston has played like a team that looks demoralized after Chaim Bloom and the front office acquired an injured Kyle Schwarber and two middling relievers at the MLB trade deadline instead of addressing a need by trading for Anthony Rizzo, who has three home runs and eight RBIs in his first 10 games with New York.

The good news is that the Red Sox have a golden opportunity to right the ship: Their next three series are against teams with losing records in the Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians.

"There’s no panic needed right now," Pivetta added. "There’s nothing we need to drastically change. It’s just going out there and playing the game we all love and having fun and competing.

"We show up every day and we work our tails off. Nobody shows up and takes a day off. We just stay on the same pace we’re going. Some things turn our way and some positive things will come out of it."

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