Pirates, Quinn Priester Shelled in 8-1 Loss To Red Sox

PITTSBURGH— The Pirates fell to the Red Sox 8-1 on Friday night, with Boston shelling Quinn Priester for three home runs while Pittsburgh’s offense couldn’t get anything going until the game was well out of hand.

Priester allowed five runs—four earned—across 4.1 innings, striking out just two batters in his first big league start of 2024. Pittsburgh’s bats, meanwhile, couldn’t solve Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello, who allowed just one hit in six innings of work.

Priester’s troubles started in the first inning when he allowed solo home runs to Wilyer Abreu and Triston Casas. Abreu’s homer, a 421 foot bomb, landed on the right field riverwalk, coming within a couple bounces of leaving PNC Park entirely. Boston tacked on another run in the second, aided by a throwing error from Priester.

Jack Suwinski led off the bottom of the frame with a double, but Bello induced soft contact for three consecutive outs to strand him at second.

Priester made it through the fourth inning on ten pitches, queueing manager Derek Shelton to leave him in the game and take a third try at the top of the order. He ended up staying in a batter too long, as Rob Refsnyder chased him from the game with a two-run homer.

Red Sox Pile On

Boston continued to slug against Roansy Contreras, as Ceddanne Rafaela punching the first pitch he saw over the left-center wall before Enmanuel Valdez tacked on two more runs with a seventh-inning double. Jared Triolo relayed a throw from Bryan Reynolds to the plate to cut down another runner and end the inning.

Michael A. Taylor and Henry Davis singled to open the eighth, but again the Pirates couldn’t advance past second base.

Alika Williams tripled in the ninth, with an Edward Olivares groundout breaking up the shutout, but the Pirates couldn’t mount a miraculous comeback.

Pittsburgh falls to 11-9 on the season. Their series with the Red Sox continues at 4:05 on Saturday, with Mitch Keller (2-1, 4.50 ERA) set to start.