PITTSBURGH — The hours leading up to Quinn Priester’s season debut were littered with teammates congratulating the 2019 first-rounder in the clubhouse on making it back to Pittsburgh.

Just a few minutes into his Friday night start, however, it became clear Priester again wasn’t at his best. He yielded three home runs, including two in the first inning of the Pirates’ 8-0 loss to the Red Sox at PNC Park. The defeat doubled as the Pirates’ fourth in a row, and fifth in six games.

Priester, who didn’t earn a spot in the Pirates’ rotation coming out of spring training after going 3-3 with a 7.74 ERA in his rookie season last year, served up a solo shot to the second hitter of the game. Wilyer Abreu cranked a slider well past the Clemente Wall in right.

Two batters later, the left-handed hitting Triston Casas took a dead-center sinker out to the deepest part of the park, digging the Pirates an early 2-0 deficit.

The third run Priester yielded was unearned, but was because of his own doing. Bobby Dalbec, who ripped a double off the right field wall, got caught dead in his tracks trying to take third on a comebacker with one away in the second. Priester’s throw to Ke’Bryan Hayes was off the mark, and a fielder’s choice in the ensuing at-bat plated Dalbec.

Priester settled in for the third and fourth innings, but only recorded one out in the fifth before allowing his third and final home run. He hung a change-up to Rob Refsnyder, who drove in a pair on his 14th career MLB home run in nine seasons. In 11 career MLB appearances, Priester has given up 15 four-baggers.

For Priester, this start was an opportunity to show he belongs in the big leagues after appearing in 10 games last year, eight of them starts. There’s seemingly some runway for the former top-100 prospect to work with, too, considering Marco Gonzales will not throw for the next couple of weeks and is on the 15-day injured list with a left forearm muscle strain.

But based on Friday’s start, Priester didn’t do much to bolster his case for more MLB starts in the near future.

On the mound

After Priester departed, Josh Fleming cleaned up the fifth before turning the ball over to Roansy Contreras. The right-hander entered the evening riding a five-inning scoreless streak, which he saw disappear in the sixth.

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