Jedixson Paez turns in his best start of the season as Double-A Portland routs Altoona, 10-0

Double-A Portland’s stretch run got a jolt on Sunday as right-hander Jedixson Paez delivered what the Red Sox organization described as his best performance of the 2026 season. Paez completed four innings in a 10-0 win over Altoona at Delta Dental Park at Hadlock Field, stepping in with the game already moving away from the Curve and leaving with a shutout intact.

Portland’s pitching had control early, but Paez’s burst in the middle innings separated the teams. The game report from MLB described how Paez entered in the top of the sixth after Portland had already worked through five scoreless frames, during which Blake Wehunt provided the first stretch of relief in the form of one-hit pitching.

Paez then turned a narrow-looking situation into a statement. After Callan Moss reached on a one-out single in the sixth, Paez retired the next three batters to strike out the side, and he followed that with two more strikeouts in each of the seventh and eighth innings. He also avoided walks, matching his season-long streak of not issuing a free pass in his four-inning stretch.

The strikeout number was the headline, but the manner of it was equally notable in the description. Paez finished with eight strikeouts over his four innings while allowing just one hit across a scoreless outing. In the Red Sox system, that combination is often read as both ability and effectiveness, and the release emphasized his improved run-prevention indicators.

From a season tracking standpoint, the MLB report said Paez’s earned run average dropped to 4.26 as a result of the outing. It also cited a WHIP of 0.88 across 11 appearances this year, while noting that his workload has been mixed, with both starts and bullpen appearances, and that he has been capable of going at least three innings in seven of his past eight outings.

The broader game context is that Portland did not simply win, it dominated, scoring 10 runs in the same contest that Paez kept scoreless for the portion of the game he owned. That matters at the Double-A level because a prospect’s execution is easier to evaluate when the environment includes both strong early pitching and a late-game cushion, allowing coaches to see whether a pitcher can sustain command once the pressure from the opposing lineup rises.

As Portland continues to navigate the later stages of the minor league season, Paez’s next step is straightforward: convert one standout outing into consistency. The most immediate watch point is whether he can keep the walk rate down and maintain that combination of strikeouts and limited baserunners, especially given the report’s acknowledgement that he has had stretches where damage has shown up in larger numbers.

For Red Sox development plans, Sunday’s performance slots into a key evaluation window. Paez’s eight-strikeout four-inning surge gives the organization another data point that his ceiling can show up quickly in games, but the follow-up will reveal whether this was a peak moment or the beginning of a more stable phase of his 2026 season.