With Lucas Giolito set to undergo elbow surgery on Tuesday, there’s an additional spot up for grabs in the Red Sox starting rotation, and Cooper Criswell is making a solid case for it.

Crisswell, 27, added an impressive outing to his ongoing audition, pitching 3 ⅔ shutout innings in Monday’s 1-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at JetBlue Park. In his fourth preseason outing (second start), the right-hander held the visiting lineup to two hits, struck out four, and didn’t issue a walk. It was a promising rebound after his previous start, in which the Minnesota Twins tagged him for three earned runs on three hits in 2 ⅔ innings.

After his start, the righty joined the NESN broadcast to discuss the changes he’s made this year. “Just trying to throw better pitches 0-2, 1-2,” he explained, “and then on top of that, I think just going back to the cutter, gonna make my bread and butter that much better.”

Joe Jacques, Chase Shugart, Cam Booser, Jorge Benitez, and Lucas Luetge pitched the rest of the game. Benitez issued the Pirates’ lone walk of the contest, but also struck out three batters in his eighth-inning performance.

It was also a well-pitched game for the other side; each team managed just five hits. Pirates starter Bailey Falter had a perfect game going through 3 ⅓ innings before Jamie Westbrook knocked a double off the Green Monster. Falter exited after Wilyer Abreu followed with his eighth walk of the preseason.

Though Abreu isn’t showing off much of his power potential yet, he’s bringing impressive plate discipline to the table. The rookie outfielder has only collected four hits, including a triple and a home run in 13 games, but he entered the day with seven walks, tied for third-most in the Majors this spring.

The Red Sox went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, leaving four men on base, including Marcelo Mayer. The organization’s top shortstop prospect struggled defensively, but hit an opposite-field double high off the Monster in the bottom of the seventh. The lone run came moments later, when Nick Sogard ground out to first, driving in infielder Joe Dunand.

Monday was also CJ Cron’s spring training debut after signing a minor-league deal with the organization last week. (He went 0-for-2.)

“Not nerve-wrecking, obviously a little bit of cobwebs,” Cron told the broadcast after being subbed out of the game.

The 34-year-old first baseman, who’d been teammates with Trevor Story on the ’21 Colorado Rockies, averaged 23 home runs per year between 2018-22, but struggled in limited playing time between the Rockies and Angels. He’s competing with Bobby Dalbec, among others, for one of two infield bench spots.

“I’m on a little minor-league pact here,” Cron added. “Coming here, (making the roster) was obviously my main objective and something I’m going to try my best to accomplish.”

The Red Sox improve to 11-6-1 in preseason play. Brayan Bello, Tanner Houck, and Brennan Bernardino are scheduled to pitch in Tuesday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals.