Skenes strikes out Holliday, tosses scoreless first in Spring Breakout win

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Paul Skenes made the most of his only inning of work in Thursday night's 3-1 win over the Orioles in the Spring Breakout game at LECOM Park. 

Baseball's top-ranked pitching prospect threw 11 pitches, including six at 100-plus mph. He struck out Enrique Bradfield Jr. on three straight pitches that hit 101, 101 and 102 to begin the game. 

"It was nice to be out there competing again," said Skenes, who was making his first appearance in a game since March 4 when he pitched against the Rays in Grapefruit League play. "Nice to pitch at home for once and pitch under the lights. It was fun.” 

The must-see matchup of the night pitted Skenes against Jackson Holliday, the game's top overall prospect. The pair faced off earlier this spring during a Grapefruit League game in Sarasota with Holliday grounding out. This time around, Skenes got him swinging to conclude a six-pitch at-bat that featured two more 101 mph fastballs and his second at 102. Skenes finished off Holliday with this 91.6 mph slider: 

"That’s why we play the game, to have cool matchups like that," Skenes said. "As much as we can do that, it’s cool."

And here was Holliday's reaction to facing Skenes: 

Skenes didn't strike out the side, but he did need just two pitches to induce a groundout off the bat of Connor Norby to finish off a clean first inning. His final pitch was a 96.6 mph sinker. 

“It feels hard. They didn’t have the velo up during the game but I heard about it shortly after," Skenes said. "It’s a tool, it’s good to have, for sure.” 

While most were chomping at the bit to watch him face Holliday, Skenes admits he didn't want to focus solely on one particular hitter. He knows how good Holliday is, but he's also aware of the danger associated with putting too much attention on one at-bat.

“I look at the lineup and just try to figure out ways to get guys out. I’ve had, not trouble, but experiences where you put too much focus on one guy and then the seven hitter gets you three times, which is a way worse feeling than if the guy that you spent so much time and energy preparing for gets you because that’s kinda what he’s supposed to do, he’s good for a reason," Skenes said. "The emphasis for me is figuring out a plan for everybody in the lineup and as long as that takes, it takes. It might take longer for some guys, it definitely took longer for Holliday because he’s a good hitter. You gotta figure out ways to get hitters out and it takes longer sometimes, but I’m just trying to be as objective as possible with it.” 

The pitching talent the Pirates possess within their farm system was on display throughout the night, as six players combined to allow just one hit in the seven-inning affair. 

Braxton Ashcraft, who spent some time in big-league camp before being optioned to minor-league camp on Monday, followed Skenes and allowed one earned run while walking two and striking out a pair in the second inning. 

Hunter Barco allowed the lone hit and struck out one in two scoreless innings and Khristian Curtis, a 2023 12th-round pick from Arizona State, overcame a pair of walks to come away unscathed in the fifth. Patrick Reilly, a fifth-round selection last year out of Vanderbilt, struck out three in a clean sixth inning before Bubba Chandler, a top-100 prospect who ranks No. 5 in the Pirates' system, struck out one in the seventh to earn the save. 

"We come in every day with a purpose," Chandler said. "You can tell that with a lot of the guys. Just wanna win, have fun. There’s fun in the winning. You set the standard high enough, you’re going to achieve it. That’s what the group wants to do. I think that’s what we’re going to do." 

Following his exit, Skenes was able to watch a majority of his fellow prospects shine under the lights in Bradenton. He believes Thursday's collective performance showcased just how much pitching talent the organization has coming up. 

“We were talking about it during the game. We’re gonna be good for a while, which is cool to see," Skenes said. "The first wave of guys that are gonna go up are gonna be really good and then we have a stockpile of guys who are going to come up right after. I don’t think people realize how good we are, I don’t even know if we realize how good we are as a system. We’re excited.” 

The Pirates prospects were limited to just five hits on the night, but they did enough to provide run support. Tsung-Che Cheng started things off with a walk in the bottom of the first inning before back-to-back singles by Termarr Johnson and Lonnie White Jr. set the stage for a go-ahead sacrifice fly off the bat of Jack Brannigan. Garret Forrester added a run in the second as he walked, moved to second on a groundout, advanced to third on a passed ball and later scored on a balk that made it 2-1. The Pirates' final run came in the sixth following singles by Tony Blanco Jr. and Jase Bowen. Blanco ended up scoring on a sac fly by Mitch Jebb. 

“It was cool to get fans in the stands, for sure. I don’t know how many people were watching, I know it was televised, but that’s the future of our organizations," Skenes said. "I know there are going to be 14 other games in the next couple days and hopefully people watch those ones, too. It was cool.”