The Red Sox got back on track yesterday against the Blue Jays. It took until the 8th inning, but the bats roared to life. Long live The Durbinator, right? The win was the first since the Friday night blowout against the Athletics. Coincidentally there were no wins while Weissert spent a few days with the Triple A Worcester Red Sox. Anyway, with Greg back in the fold the winning ways have returned. Hopefully someone explains the lore to Adley Rutschman.
Jake Bennett had a rare off night and didn’t quite handle the A’s in the 7-3 loss. The lefty allowed 4 runs in 5.1 innings – the most runs he’s allowed since June 10th. Like a number of young pitchers, Bennett is setting highs in innings at this time of year. If he was watching Payton Tolle, maybe he’ll have an efficient start lasting into the late innings. The Pirates open the weekend series with righty Bubba Chandler. The Bucks have won three of Chandler’s last five starts, although the outings have been all over the map. He’s tossed between 4.0 innings and 6.1, walked 0 to 4, recorded 3 to 6 Ks, allowed between 2 and 7 hits. But also, since the start of June his ERA has fallen from 5.05 to 4.26. He doesn’t often get past 91 pitches per outing so running that pitch count up early could be handy.
Sonny Gray was the hard luck loser in a 2-1 game against Toronto his last time out. Gray leads the league in pitcher wins with 14 and while wins don’t mean what they did in the past because of the role bullpens play in the modern game, it’s still directionally right that a guy with a lot of wins probably means good results. Jared Jones, another righty, is back in the majors after missing the 2025 season. His last start, against the mostly hapless Mets, was a 3.0 inning, 8-run outing. He’s allowed at least one homer in each of his last 4 starts and has given up 10 long balls in 13 starts this season. Eight of his 13 starts have been less than 5.0 innings. The Pirates have some good pitching, and Jones might be part of that group in 2027, but so far he’s still rebuilding.
Patrick Sandoval gave up 4 runs (2 earned) against the Jays and while he made it through 6.0 innings he never really seemed to be in control. Extending him to to his longest number of innings (6.0) if not pitches (84 vs season high 92) may not have been the best idea but the ‘pen was tired and Whitlock was hurting and they just couldn’t get enough outs. On the other hand, Paul Skenes might be bad now! That’s something. Granted, bad for Skenses is still pretty good. Since back-to-back 8.0 inning shoutouts at the beginning of May, Skenes has allowed runs in every outing. His ERA over that time is 5.00 against a 3.29 FIP. Over those 84.2 innings he’s struck out 100 and walked 30 while allowing 89 hits. His last outing against the Marlins was a 5.0 inning, 65 pitch affair where he’s allowed 2 runs (1 earned). He was pulled surprisingly. It wasn’t necessarily injury-related, but his velocity was down: “Skenes’ average fastball velocity this season is 96.8 mph, down from 98.1 mph last season and 98.8 mph in 2024.”
Konnor Griffin, their star rookie, is still on the IL after suffering a similar injury to Roman Anthony.
Likewise, Oneil Cruz is still on the IL.
Brandon Lowe has 25 home runs.
The Password is hitting just .170/.204/.191 in 49 plate appearances. He may need some more time in the majors to adjust, hopefully after this weekend.
Esmerlyn Valdez is hitting .246/.368/.563 on the season but since his last home run on July 26 he’s at just .114/.328/.159.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday, August 14: Jake Bennett (3.17 ERA / 3.24 FIP) vs. Bubba Chandler (4.26 ERA / 4.15 FIP)
Saturday, August 15: Sonny Gray (2.79 ERA / 3.58 FIP) vs. Jared Jones (5.03 ERA / 4.15 FIP)
Sunday, August 16: Patrick Sandoval (3.30 ERA / 3.85 FIP) vs. Paul Skenes (3.88 ERA / 2.99 FIP)
When/Where to Watch
Friday, August 14: 6:40 PM ET on NESN
Saturday, August 15: 7:15 PM ET on FOX
Sunday, August 16: 1:35 PM ET on NESN