Red Sox swept the Baltimore Orioles in four games and returned home to face the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates sit last in the NL Central at 59-76 but are closer to mid-tier teams than the 38-win Rockies. Paul Skenes leads the NL in ERA and FIP through 27 starts and is a Cy Young candidate despite an 8-9 record; the Pirates have won 14 of his starts. Skenes will face Payton Tolle in his major league debut. Johan Oviedo is returning from Tommy John surgery with 10 innings and 14 strikeouts across three starts. Dustin May was bumped to face Oviedo. Mitch Keller has declining strikeouts and few walks.
The 2024 sensation is living up to the hype in his sophomore season. Fresh off a Rookie of the Year he leads the NL in ERA and FIP through 27 starts and is a very likely Cy Young winner. The best thing for the Red Sox about facing him is that his record is 8-9. The Pirates have won 14 of his starts and lost 13. If you can get this into the bullpen...well, anything can happen
Dustin May was bumped from Friday to face Johan Oviedo. In what seems to be a theme for Boston recently, Oviedo is returning from Tommy John surgery that cost him the 2024 and most of the 2025 season. In 10 innings spread across three starts - 1.0, 5.0, 4.0 innings - he's allowed 4 runs on 7 hits with 14 strikeouts. Dustin May, already two Tommy Johns in, knows things can go south quickly.
The Pittsburgh Pirates aren't great. And that's being rather generous, although the Colorado Rockies exist too. The Pirates are a last place team in the NL Central but at 59-76 arn't too far removed from the Los Angeles Angels (62-71) as opposed to the 38-win Rockies or 48 win White Sox. The Nationals with the starting of a young core around James Wood have won 53 games. One of the reasons why: Paul Skenes.
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