Matthew

Boyd

Boyd completed seven innings for the first time since April 2021. He’s been terrific in opening up 5-3 with a 3.01 ERA this season. He even has a 3.38 ERA in the three losses. As successful as they’ve been otherwise, it’s rather baffling that the Cubs are just 6-6 in his starts. He’s due to pitch in Philadelphia next time out.

Boyd made light work of the lowly Rockies to help the Cubs finish off their sweep. His fastball and changeup played well off one another and combined to force 10 swings-and-misses en route to tying his season-high with eight strikeouts. He now has a fantastic 3.08 ERA as one of the most surprisingly good starting pitchers in the league. His next start is scheduled to come against the Nationals.

Boyd gave up five straight hits to start the game, three of them soft, to put himself into a 3-0 hole. He bounced back from there, but he’d already run up quite a pitch count and left after four. He ended up allowing just four hard-hit balls tonight, but he gave up eight hits anyway. It was both his shortest start of the year and the first time he’s given up more than three earned runs. He’ll take a 4-2 record and a 3.42 ERA into his next start at home against the Rockies.

Boyd served up a solo homer to Chase Meidroth to lead off the first inning. The White Sox brought a second run in on a sacrifice fly in the second. Tim Elko later took Boyd deep for a solo homer in the fifth. Boyd would toss one more frame, completing six innings for a quality start and the win while striking out eight. The 34-year-old left-hander will take an excellent 2.98 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and a 53/13 K/BB ratio across 51 1/3 innings into a start against the Reds in Cincinnati on Friday.

Boyd didn’t walk a batter on the day and is now sporting a 2.78 ERA on the season. The left-hander ate the Mets up with his slider and changeup and posted a 30 percent whiff rate and 30 percent CSW on the day. He needs to be rostered in 100 percent of leagues for his start next week against the White Sox.

Boyd coughed up a two-run homer to Luis Matos in the fourth inning, which represented all of the damage against him in this one. He got nine runs of support from Chicago’s offense by the middle innings and was able to cruise to a relatively easy win. He finished with seven strikeouts and didn’t issue any walks. The 34-year-old has easily surpassed expectations this season in his Cubs debut, allowing three earned runs or fewer in each of his seven starts. He’ll carry a strong 2.75 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 37/13 K/BB ratio across 39 1/3 innings into a road matchup on Sunday against the Mets.

Boyd rode his changeup to a solid start here. The Pirates packed their lineup with eight right-handed batters against the lefty Boyd and he responded by consistently dotting that changeup. It regularly fell down just below the zone and forced plenty of weak swings on pitches that were out of reach. In all, it earned six swings-and-misses and got him out of a few jams. He now has a 2.70 ERA in what was a solid first month of the season. He’s set for a two-start week coming up against the Giants and Mets.

This was a true old-school start by Boyd. The Dodgers were on him for most of this start with 12 hard-hit balls and two home runs, but Craig Counsell left him out there for six innings despite the constant damage being done. He even faced Shohei Ohtani for a fourth time, which is completely unheard of. While half of his runs were unearned, Boyd himself made the error that kindly took them off his ledger. Still, seeing Boyd trusted to give volume bodes well for his fantasy value. He’s scheduled to face the struggling Pirates in his next start.

The runs came on a walk and three singles in the third. Nico Hoerner also made an incredible play on the second hit, flipping the ball between his legs to first, but it wasn’t quick enough to get an out with Fernando Tatis Jr. running. Boyd dropped to 1-2 in spite of his 2.01 ERA. He’ll hope for more support next week against the Dodgers.

Boyd matched Yoshinobu Yamamoto zero-for-zero for the overwhelming majority of the contest, but in the sixth inning, Tommy Edman hit a three-run homer. It’s a disappointing end to what was an outstanding start for Boyd that saw him fan seven and generated 17 swings and misses on 98 pitches. He’ll hope for some run support against the Padres next week in San Diego.