The Pirates open a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox tonight, with new questions about their pitching and hopes that their missing offense will show up tonight at PNC Park.
The Bucs yesterday called up right-hander Quinn Priester to start the game replacing Marco Gonzalez, who is on the injured list with a forearm strain. Priester, the Pirates’ 2019 first-round draft pick, was recalled to the taxi squad and is expected to be activated before the game tonight. He was 1-1 with a 3.95 ERA at Indianapolis, with 20 strikeouts and five walks in 13-and-two-thirds innings. He pitched in ten games with eight starts last year for the Pirates, with a 3-3 record and an ERA of 7.74.
Right-hander Brayan Bello (2-1, 3.92 ERA) pitches for the Red Sox. The airtime is 6:15, with the first pitch at 6:40 tonight on WCCS.
Major League Baseball yesterday suspended Pirates reliever Aroldis Chapman for “inappropriate actions” on Monday when he was ejected for arguing with home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso during a 6-3 loss to the Mets. Chapman could appeal and delay the suspension, but if he does not, it would start tonight.
The Paul Skenes watch continues after the big right-hander threw three-and-a-third innings of shutout baseball last night for Indianapolis. 34 of his 65 pitches topped 100 miles per hour as he struck out eight. He has yet to allow a run in 12-and-two-thirds innings pitched. Indy won the game over St. Paul, 6-5 with Malcolm Nunez collecting three hits and Ji Hwan Bae and Jake Lamb each having two.
ALTOONA CURVE
Both Seth Beer and Jackson Glenn hit their first home runs of the season as Altoona nipped Bowie, 7-6 to snap their four-game losing streak. Abrahan Gutierrez and Tres Gonzalez each had two hits for the Curve and Bubba Chandler got the win with five innings of two-run ball, giving up six hits, striking out five, and walking two.
Game four of the series is tonight, with the Curve sending right-hander Sean Sullivan to the mound.
