The Red Sox won again, and Greg Weissert was back to help after a short detour to the Triple A Worcester Red Sox. Their bats woke up in the eighth inning and turned a game they had been chasing into a win over the Blue Jays, ending a skid that stretched back to the Friday night blowout against the Athletics.
That is why Red Sox Vs Pirates is drawing attention now. Weissert's return gives the Red Sox another late-inning arm after a few days away, and the timing matters because Friday brings a different kind of test: the Pirates open the weekend series with righty Bubba Chandler, who has worked more efficiently of late, while the Red Sox will also be looking ahead to Paul Skenes.
Skenes has allowed runs in every outing since back-to-back eight-inning shutouts at the beginning of May, a stretch that has changed the way his starts are being discussed. Over that span, he has a 5.00 ERA, but the deeper numbers still say this is not a pitcher gone missing. His 3.29 FIP, 100 strikeouts, 30 walks and 89 hits over 84.2 innings still point to a power arm missing fewer bats than before, not one without stuff.
The fastball is part of why the discussion keeps getting sharper. Skenes's average fastball velocity this season is 96.8 mph, down from 98.1 mph last season and 98.8 mph in 2024. His last outing against the Marlins was only 5.0 innings and 65 pitches, with 2 runs allowed and 1 earned, which is the kind of line that feeds the idea that something is off even when the season-long profile still looks sturdy.
The Pirates have other questions around him too. Jared Jones returned to the majors after missing the 2025 season, but his last start was a 3.0-inning, 8-run outing against the Mets, and he has allowed at least one home run in each of his last four starts. He has given up 10 home runs in 13 starts this season, and eight of those starts have lasted less than 5.0 innings. Patrick Sandoval, meanwhile, gave up 4 runs, 2 earned, in 6.0 innings against the Jays, and Bubba Chandler has been the steadier arm, with three of his last five starts ending in wins for the Bucks and his ERA falling from 5.05 to 4.26 since the start of June.
Chandler still does not usually get deep into games, and his recent lines show the shape of that problem: between 4.0 and 6.1 innings, between 0 and 4 walks, between 3 and 6 strikeouts, and between 2 and 7 hits most nights. That means the Red Sox may not see the same kind of extended pressure they would against Skenes, but they will need the same kind of patience that won them the game yesterday. Weissert's return helps that plan, because it gives them one more reliable piece after a brief absence, and a bullpen that can hold a lead matters more when the other side is trying to sort out whether its ace is merely in a rough patch or entering something longer.
