Red Sox trample Pirates in Quinn Priester's season debut

Before the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 8-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Friday night, manager Derek Shelton said sending Quinn Priester to Triple-A Indianapolis to start the season was a difficult decision.

“Overall, it’s our belief that he is a good starting pitcher,” Shelton said.

In his first start since he was recalled Thursday from Indianapolis, Priester failed to validate that trust in front of a crowd of 17,959 at PNC Park, allowing three of the four Red Sox home runs and leaving the game before the end of the fifth inning.

Shelton was not pleased with Priester’s pitch execution and inability to get ahead of the hitters, making it easier for the Red Sox to barrel the baseball. Shelton said Priester was less than 50% on throwing first-pitch strikes.

“Pitching behind the whole game,” said Shelton, whose team dropped to 11-9 on the season. “You cannot pitch behind in the big leagues. It’s very simple. If you put the ball on the plate and you’re in positive counts, you have the ability to execute pitches and expand the zone.

“When you’re behind in the count, you have to come on the plate, and in the big leagues you come on the plate, you’re going to get hit.”

Two of the homers were firsts of the season for Wilyer Abreu and Rob Refsnyder. Ceddanne Rafaela hit a solo shot 407 feet, also his first, into the seats in left field off Roansy Contreras, who surrendered a two-run, bases-loaded double to Emmanuel Valdez in the seventh.

Priester, the Pirates’ first-round draft choice in 2019, replaced Marco Gonzales (forearm strain) in the starting rotation.

“Some of the sinkers getting left out over (the plate),” he said. “Execution just needs to get a little bit crisper. I didn’t have great feel for the slider.”

Priester topped 94.5 mph only once, and that was to the second batter of the game (Abreu before he hit his home run).

“That’s something that can always get better,” he said.

He said he didn’t want to make a knee-jerk reaction when he tries to figure what went wrong.

“Right now, I just want to collect my thoughts and create a plan before we get out there (Saturday) and keep working.”

The loss was the Pirates’ fourth in a row since defeating the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-2, on Sunday. In that four-game stretch, the Pirates have scored six runs, and their only hit Friday off Red Sox starter Brayan Bello was an opposite-field double by Jack Suwinski.

“The changeup-slider mix is really effective,” Shelton said of Bello (3-1), who signed a six-year, $55 million contract extension last month. “And then you’re talking 94 to 97 (mph) off it with action. He did a really good job of keeping the ball down in the zone.”

In the ninth, the Pirates managed their only run when pinch-hitter Alika Williams tripled — his second of the season — and scored on Edward Olivares’ ground-ball out.

The Pirates made 14 consecutive outs before Michael A. Taylor’s infield single in the eighth. Henry Davis followed with a single, but both runners were stranded. By game’s end, the Pirates hit their strikeout average for the season (10), with 200 in 20 games.

“We’ve faced some good pitchers,” said Jared Triolo, who was the only Pirates starter who didn’t strike out. “Speaking for myself, they pitch you where they get you off your game plan.”

The Pirates let the game get out of hand early.

In the first inning, Abreu hit a 421-foot shot over the left-center fence, and two batters later, Triston Casas reached the bleachers in right field with a 413-foot homer. The blasts were recorded at 106.1 mph (Abreu) and 109.1 mph (Casas).

Refsnyder’s two-run homer in the fifth landed 390 feet from home plate in right-center field at 90.4 mph.

Another Red Sox run was unearned in the second inning when Priester fielded a ground ball and threw errantly to third base in an attempt to nail Bobby Dalbec, who had doubled.

The Pirates avoided further damage in that inning when Masataka Yoshida was thrown out at home plate while trying to score on Dalbec’s hit off the right-field wall. Center fielder Taylor threw to second baseman Triolo, whose strong relay throw arrived in plenty of time to record the out.