MINNEAPOLIS – Nick Pivetta’s first rehab start on Thursday will be the only one he needs.

He’d already joined the Red Sox in Minnesota when Alex Cora made the announcement before Friday night’s series opener against the Twins.

“He’s good, he threw the ball well,” Cora said. “Struggled early with command or the strike zone, whatever it was… Very happy with the way he competed. Velo was good, and everything is trending in the right direction so hopefully he feels great tomorrow and there’s a good chance he’ll pitch in Atlanta.”

Following the Triple-A outing, in which the right-hander was charged with four runs and issued four walks, he expressed frustration with the Automatic Ball-Strike System (ABS), which is currently being tested in the minor leagues.

“I hate it, it’s terrible,” he told reporters. “Hopefully, it never comes to baseball.”

“It was very tight,” Cora said of the automatic zone during Pivetta’s outing. “I was watching the game and the first inning, I was like, oh this is gonna be tough for the pitchers.”

A day later, Pivetta was in a better mood.

“It went well yesterday, got the work I needed,” he told the Herald. “Little bit of a rough first inning, but everything felt good.”

He’s still staunchly opposed to the ABS system, though.

“No, I don’t like the ABS, the system how it is right now is not right,” he said. “It just didn’t seem like the strike zone that I was used to.”

Pivetta did, however, concede that his final line wasn’t all due to the system.

“Pitches that I usually throw for strikes were not, but I also didn’t have the best mechanics yesterday, I did walk four guys, so I was scuffling a little,” he said.

The right-hander also said he spoke to the players’ union on Thursday to discuss the system, and came away feeling somewhat optimistic.

“They’re never really gonna listen to us, but I mean, we have a vote now and it kind of works, and it at least gets our voice out there,” he said. “I think that’s enough for right now, and we’ll see what happens down the line. I think it’s something that hopefully we can negotiate, we can talk, we can get on the same page.”

Regardless, Pivetta prefers the human aspect of umpiring, with some improvements.

“I like the game how it is,” he said. “I mean, people are imperfect, I’m imperfect. I had a situation opening weekend in Seattle where an umpire missed a call and he came up to me and he said, ‘Hey I missed that,’ and I said ‘Hey, I appreciate that.’ ”

“I think there’s a good communication there. I’m gonna miss things, I’m gonna think things are balls and they’re actually strikes. It’s just a more of a natural, human kind of connection. I think it’s great where they do the video replay and stuff like that, but for the most part, I think I like it the way it is.”

“I don’t mind the challenge system,” he added. “I think that’s something that could bring a positive aspect to the game.”

Brayan Bello is scheduled to make his own rehab start with Double-A Portland on Tuesday, and Cora believes he’ll be one-and-done, too.

The two pitchers will rejoin a starting rotation that has more than kept its head above water. The Red Sox entered Friday leading the Majors with a 2.03 rotation ERA and ranked second in WHIP (1.01) and opponent average (.207). It’s their lowest rotation ERA through 32 games in the Live-Ball Era (since 1920) and according to Elias Sports Bureau, the best mark through that span by any team since the 1972 Los Angeles Dodgers.