Pirates 8, Red Sox 4: Lowe's Three-Run Shot Opens the Gap

August 14, 2026 - Pittsburgh - Rafael Flores Jr. homered in the second, and for a while that was enough. Then the fourth and fifth turned PNC Park into a crooked-number night, Brandon Lowe hit a three-run shot, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Boston Red Sox 8-4.

Bubba Chandler went five innings, four hits, two earned, five strikeouts, two walks. He improved to 6-8. Jake Bennett lasted four, five hits, four earned, six strikeouts, and fell to 7-6. Boston had nine hits and never led.

Flores, then Valdez, then the three-run fifth

Flores's first homer went to right, 371 feet, two outs in the second. 1-0. The fourth made it a game Boston had to chase. Bryan Reynolds and Ronny Simon scored on Enmanuel Valdez's double. Flores singled Valdez home. 4-0.

Boston got two in the fifth. Caleb Durbin scored on Andruw Monasterio's single. Jarren Duran scored on Nick Sogard's sacrifice fly. 4-2, and the Red Sox had the inning they needed to make Chandler work.

Pittsburgh answered before the inning ended. Jacob Gonzalez and Reynolds were on. Lowe hit his 26th homer of the year to right, 375 feet, two outs. 7-2. The three-run gap that had been a two-run game was a five-run game again. That is the at-bat that decided Friday.

Reynolds keeps scoring. Boston keeps nicking.

Sogard singled Duran home in the seventh. 7-3. Reynolds scored an eighth Pittsburgh run on Durbin's throwing error. Masataka Yoshida singled Eli White home in the ninth. 8-4. Mason Montgomery struck out the last hitter for his fourth save, one-third of an inning.

Wilyer Abreu doubled off Chandler. Adley Rutschman was in the Boston lineup and went quiet. The Red Sox were 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight on. They did not homer.

Reynolds reached twice, scored three times, doubled, and stole a base. Flores went 3-for-4 with two RBI and the early homer. Lowe's three RBI were the fifth-inning hammer. Gonzalez doubled and stole a base. Line: Pirates 8 runs, 9 hits, 1 error; Red Sox 4 runs, 9 hits, 1 error.

Chandler threw 87 pitches. Pittsburgh's bullpen (including Gregory Soto, Camilo Doval, and Kirby Yates in front of Montgomery) closed the last four innings around Boston's singles. Alec Gamboa threw three innings of relief for Boston and allowed an unearned run.

August at PNC, without a wild-card speech

Pittsburgh is 60-64. Boston is 65-57. The Pirates are not writing October copy after one Friday. They did take a series opener from a club that still has a pulse in the American League, and they did it with two homers and a starter who lasted five.

I would not bury Bennett after four innings against a lineup that squared him up in the fourth. I would say Lowe's fifth-inning homer was the swing Boston never matched.

AthX Engine angle

The Pirates finished with 15 AthX Engine team fantasy points, fourth on Friday's team board. Chandler had 12 pitching fantasy points. Flores had 9 hitting fantasy points. Reynolds had 7. Lowe had 6. Montgomery had 6.33 pitching fantasy points for the save. Boston finished at -1 team fantasy points. Gamboa's three innings scored 7 pitching fantasy points in relief of a loss.

An 8-4 win scores like a mid-pack slugfest on the team board. It still beat every shutout that finished with one or two runs.

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*Sources: ESPN box score, MLB.com gameday, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 14, 2026. AthX Engine fantasy scoring is for information only and is not financial advice.*