Lucas Giolito expected to make Red Sox debut at Blue Jays
After over two years Lucas Giolito will finally make his Boston Red Sox debut on Wednesday against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito throws a pitch during a rehab start with Triple-A Worcester on April 25, 2025.
Syndication: Worcester TelegramLucas Giolito will finally make his long awaited Red Sox debut against the Blue Jays on Wednesday. Giolito spent the last season-plus rehabbing various injuries, which spilled into 2025, but he is finally healthy enough to take the mound in a major league game for the first time since Oct. 2023.
"He’s healthy and he’ll be with us in Toronto," Cora said, via MLB.com. "He’ll most likely [start] Game 2 [Wednesday night]."
"We trust the player and we trust the track record," Cora continued. "We talked to him last week and it felt like he was ready. It’s not about results down there. ... We do believe physically he’s ready. Now it’s about performing at the Major League level."
The official Red Sox lineup for Game 2 against the Jays is not yet confirmed by the team, but MLB.com lists Giolito as the probable starting pitcher.
Giolito's tenure with the Red Sox began during spring training in 2024. He suffered an ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injury, which caused him to undergo surgery (not a full Tommy John surgery) and miss the entire 2024 season. He missed the beginning of 2025 due to a low grade hamstring strain that he suffered in his first spring start of the year.
Despite being injury-prone as a member of the Red Sox, Giolito had been known as a relatively durable, inning-eating starter for most of his career. Excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, Giolito averaged just under 175 innings per season from 2018-23. So, Boston will hope he can slot in the back end of the rotation as a reliable, available starter who can go relatively deep in games. Especially because their pitching - both starting and relieving - has been one of their biggest concerns so far.
The Red Sox (17-14) are in second place in the AL East and are 1.5 games back from the New York Yankees for first place in the division. The added support in the starting rotation could give them some help going forward. But of course, Giolito returning at full form, or even close, is certainly not guaranteed.
Luke Graham is a digital sports content co-op for 98.5 the Sports Hub. He is currently a sophomore at Northeastern University studying communications and media studies. Read all his articles here, and follow him on X @LukeGraham05.
