TORONTO — More than 15 months after signing a free-agent deal with the Red Sox, right-hander Lucas Giolito looked sharp in his long-awaited Boston debut Wednesday night.
Giolito allowed three runs and five hits in six innings at Toronto, exiting with a 6-3 lead. He walked two and struck out seven.
“I’m happy with how I competed,” Giolito said. “I’m just not pleased with how I finished. I can definitely finish stronger than that.”
Giolito threw 90 pitches, 61 for strikes.
“Good fastball, good changeup, moving the ball around,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He did an outstanding job. Obviously he was upset with the way it ended but if we get this version of Lucas, we’re going to be in good shape.”
Ernie Clement and Bo Bichette hit back-to-back singles to begin the third inning, but Giolito struck out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looking, got Anthony Santander to fly out, then struck out George Springer looking to escape the jam.
“That was a good feeling,” Giolito said.
Those were the first three in a streak of 11 consecutive outs for Giolito, a run that ended when Springer walked in the sixth. Daulton Varsho and Alejandro Kirk followed with back-to-back homers.
“I thought I pitched well until the sixth,” Giolito said. “The sixth inning, some crucial, crucial mistakes. We were playing the changeup pretty well to the corners, and I just left them up there. So, something to learn from. Got to finish stronger.”
Giolito was in line for the win before Santander tied the score 6-all with a three-run homer off right-hander Garrett Whitlock in the seventh.
“Really proud of him,” Whitlock said of Giolito. “Really happy that he’s back with us.”
Toronto won 7-6 on Kirk’s game-ending hit in the 10th inning.
The Red Sox activated Giolito off the injured list before the game and put left-hander Brennan Bernardino on the bereavement list. Giolito had been sidelined since spring training because of a strained left hamstring.
It was Giolito’s first major league appearance since Oct. 1, 2023, when he started for Cleveland at Detroit.
Staked to a 2-0 lead before taking the mound Wednesday, Giolito allowed a leadoff single to Bichette in the first inning but struck out Varsho to strand a pair.
In March, Giolito left his first spring start against Philadelphia after one inning when his hamstring tightened.
The 30-year-old signed a $38.5 million. two-year contract with Boston before last season, but didn’t pitch in 2024 because of a partial tear in his right ulnar collateral ligament.
He went 0-2 with a 5.19 ERA in five minor league rehab starts.
“The rehab outings were completely different,” Giolito said. “I was going out there kind of treating them more like spring training. There’s no adrenaline, trying to work on some mechanical things.”
In 2023, Giolito went 8-15 with a 4.88 ERA in 33 starts with the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland Guardians. He allowed 41 homers, second-most in the majors.
After beginning his career with six games for Washington, Giolito went 59-52 with a 4.20 ERA in 162 starts with the White Sox before Chicago traded him to the Angels in July 2023. After going 1-5 with a 6.89 ERA in six starts for Los Angeles, Giolito was claimed off waivers by Cleveland and went 1-4 with a 7.04 ERA in six starts.
He entered Wednesday with a 61-62 record and a 4.43 ERA in 178 starts and two relief appearances.
