Paul Skenes mustered just two strikeouts over the weekend against the Toronto Blue Jays. He gave up at least four earned runs for the second start in a row. The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner conceded a leadoff homer, a bad omen on a day when he surrendered nine hits, the most he’s been responsible for in a game this season.
Back at home on Thursday against the Chicago Cubs, Skenes recalibrated. He dialed up some of his best stuff, except even that wasn’t enough to return him to the win column.
He struck out seven of the first eight batters he faced and clocked out with 10 Ks. Although he was pegged for three runs, only one of them was earned. Back-to-back errors in the sixth were catalysts for the other two runs. Skenes didn’t get the support he needed from his defense or from a Pirates lineup that came up well short in a 7-2 defeat.
The righty’s record fell to 6-5. That said, his ERA dropped, too. That number dipped below three and now sits at 2.89 as the calendar readies a flip to June.
The Pirates (29-28) wound up splitting the four-game series against the Cubs (31-26), who snapped their 10-game losing streak Wednesday, as the NL Central standings continue to shape-shift.
Skenes came in with wildly disproportionate numbers in day and night games this season. On Thursday, he kept on dazzling under the lights.
Right away, he used a 99-mph four-seam fastball to get Pete Crow-Armstrong looking. He wrapped the top of the first with an 89-mph changeup that produced a whiff from Michael Busch.
Skenes fanned the side in the second, punching out both Alex Bregman and Seiya Suzuki with his sweeper. For the third time in his career, he mounted seven Ks through the first three innings. He accomplished that feat twice during his NL Rookie of the Year campaign in 2024, per MLB.com.
One of his three walks on the night, an infield single and then a Suzuki bloop single to left paved the way for the Cubs’ first run. That arrived in the fourth.
In the sixth, though, Skenes’ infield let him down. Granted he issued a four-pitch walk to Busch, but then Bregman reached base due to a throwing error from third baseman Tyler Callihan, whom the Pirates recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis as Konnor Griffin sat out with right forearm soreness.
Another errant throw, that one from fill-in shortstop Jared Triolo on the very next play, resulted in the Cubs tacking on a run and Ian Happ making it to first. Skenes was pulled, and then Bregman scored on a subsequent fielder’s choice while reliever Mason Montgomery was on the bump.
A Bryan Reynolds solo shot and a Callihan RBI double made it a 3-2 game in the bottom half of that frame. But the Cubs ended up creating more separation, in part thanks to a two-run blast from Happ in the eighth that further rendered Skenes’ bounce-back performance obsolete.
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