Nick Pivetta scattered two hits over five scoreless innings in a win over the Nationals on Monday.
Pivetta recorded two strikeouts and allowed just two baserunners, requiring an economical 63 pitches (39) strikes to cruise through five frames in his first start back in the majors since April 12. He gave up some loud contact, including six batted balls with exit velocities over 99 mph, but they didn’t come back to burn him. It was completely justifiable to question whether the 33-year-old veteran starter would make any sort of fantasy impact down the home stretch after such a lengthy layoff, but he seems to have answered those concerns with a strong effort right out of the gate. He’s in line for an extremely favorable matchup against the rebuilding Giants to wrap up a two-start week on Sunday.
