Matthew Boyd and Jared Jones both look to continue torrid stretches Friday when the visiting Chicago Cubs open a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Boyd (6-1, 4.15 ERA) won his fourth straight start on Saturday after allowing just one solo homer and two other hits over six innings in Chicago’s 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins. The left-hander has a 2.57 ERA in five starts since returning from surgery to repair a meniscus tear sustained while playing with his kids.
“Everything is just moving in the right direction: endurance, how you feel through the outing and afterward. All that’s feeling good,” said Boyd, who came off the injured list on June 25.
An All-Star for Chicago in 2025, Boyd has struggled in his career versus Pittsburgh. He is 1-3 with a 6.18 ERA in eight appearances (all starts) against the Pirates.
Seiya Suzuki also has experienced problems with Pittsburgh this season. He is just 5-for-24 (.208) with eight strikeouts in seven games against the Pirates, who have won four of those games.
Suzuki, however, has heated up this month.
He belted a solo homer in the first inning of Chicago’s 5-1 setback to the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday, giving him at least one hit in 10 of his last 11 games. He has gone deep four times during that stretch.
Unfortunately for the Cubs, the team’s bats went silent after Suzuki’s 17th homer of the season.
Like Boyd, Jones (2-1, 4.05) also has pitched well of late for Pittsburgh.
Jones allowed one run on three hits with a season-high nine strikeouts in five innings of a 5-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians last Saturday.
He has yielded just two runs on five hits and fanned 23 batters against just three walks in three starts (15.0 innings) in July. He retired 30 batters in a row before Steven Kwan had a base hit in the third inning on Saturday.
That said, the opposition is batting just .100 (5-for-50) versus Jones during the three-game stretch.
“Giving up a run, I had some choice words for myself. But yeah, just hearing those numbers and sitting back and realizing what I’ve done over the last three games, it’s been pretty cool,” Jones said.
Jones’ impressive three-game stretch came on the heels of a rough six-start beginning to the season. The right-hander had been working out the kinks after missing all of last season after suffering an elbow injury during spring training.
Jones, 24, is 1-2 with a 5.24 ERA in four career starts against the Cubs — all coming during his rookie season in 2024.
The Pirates settled for a split of a doubleheader against the New York Yankees on Wednesday following a 2-0 setback in the nightcap.
Pittsburgh’s Nick Gonzales carries a seven-game hitting streak into Friday’s game. He is 12-for-31 with two homers and five RBIs during that stretch.
Gonzales, however, is 2-for-18 this season against the Cubs.
–Field Level Media
