BOSTON - If there's one silver lining that can be taken away from the Pirates' loss tonight, it's that Jameson Taillon may be the real deal.
Taillon put up a 3.38 ERA and a 3.43 xFIP last year in 104 innings during his rookie debut, and the question coming into this year was whether he could repeat that, or improve upon those numbers. One start doesn't answer those questions, but tonight's outing gave a strong indication that Taillon has what it takes to be a special pitcher in the big leagues.
The Red Sox were throwing Chris Sale out against Taillon, which is already a tough challenge.