Amid freezing temps, Pirates, Skenes take another loss
Through 25 career starts in his young career, Paul Skenes has proven that at times he can be almost untouchable. With a dangerous arsenal that mixes a high-velocity fastball with several pitches that complement it, including a "splinker" that is viewed as one of the best pitches in Major League Baseball, there's an understanding why he's one of the best pitchers in the game.
However, the 22-year-old right-hander has shown, at times, that he's in fact human and is susceptible to bad outings just like any other ace in the major leagues. Tuesday night at PNC Park, with the temperature dipping into the low-30s, was one of those nights.
The Cardinals got to Skenes for six hits and five earned runs, the first tying a career-high with the latter setting a new one, before earning a 5-3 win and handing the Pirates their eighth loss of the season.
Skenes also walked one hitter and struck out seven while throwing 98 pitches, 63 of which went for strikes.
"I just missed across the plate a couple times, basically let them get their A swings off a couple too many times," Skenes said. "Again I'd have to rewatch it. It's funny, a lot of the times you get away with those. Just didn't get away with them today. Kind of is what it is. You tip your cap to them."
On this night, Skenes mixed in seven different pitches, according to Baseball Savant, as he threw his fastball 29 times, his splinker 23 times and his sweeper 17 times. He also threw 12 sinkers, 10 sliders, six curveballs and one changeup. But it wasn't his pitch selection or his efficiency that plagued him, it was the location of his pitches.
Skenes set down the first six batters he faced in the Cardinals lineup, recording three strikeouts while getting two ground balls and one pop-up. A lead off single by Pedro Pagés in the third inning led to the Cardinals pushing three runs across the plate, in due part to a triple by Victor Scott II.
As you can see in the last frame of the video above, Skenes allowed his 1-1 fastball, which was clocked at 98.3 mph, to catch far too much of the plate and Scott did the rest. The hit had a 96.1 mph exit velocity as it carried all the way to the wall in centerfield and scored two runs. Skenes said he wanted to locate that pitch more on the inner half of the plate.
The Cardinals pushed another run across two hitters later, after Skenes struck out Willson Contreras for the second of three strikeouts, when Brendan Donovan hit a splinker on the outer edge of the plate to left field.
"It looked like they had a pretty good approach off him tonight," Derek Shelton said. "But, I mean, we usually don't see him leave that many balls in the middle of the plate, especially up. I think that's what got to him a little bit."
Skenes threw 26 pitches in the third inning before settling back into a rhythm and retiring six of the next seven batters he faced with Pagés reaching on a throwing error by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, his third through 12 games.
St. Louis then tagged Skenes for two more runs in the sixth as he left a splinker in the middle of the plate that Donovan sent down the right field line. After an Arenado walk, Alec Burleson drove in Donovan by hitting a curveball in the dead center of the strike zone.
Take a look:
Pagés then grounded out to the right side to drive in Arenado and tag Skenes for his fifth earned run.
After a start like tonight's, Skenes said he looks back to his start against the Dodgers in Los Angeles last season when he gave up four earned runs, his previous career high, on six hits while also striking out eight. He wasn't his best on that night, but he was able to rebound in his next start as he limited the Mariners to just three hits, but walked four and gave up two runs.
To Skenes, night's like tonight are going to happen and he believes they are part of the sport. He just has to find his own way to limit them.
"You kind of just got to tip your cap to them a little bit," Skenes said. "It's not something I'm going to lose any sleep over. It's just, it's the game. They're big leaguers. This is their fourth time seeing me. That's just sort of how it goes. Got to tip your cap. They just executed a little better than I did today."
Like it has been consistently throughout the start of the season, the Pirates' offense was almost non-existent for the first eight innings of the contest. They managed to get to Sonny Gray for just three hits over five innings of work with the lone bright spot being a Bryan Reynolds 391-foot home run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
They added two more in the ninth, thanks to an Alexander Canario single, a Reynolds double off the wall in left field and RBIs from both Andrew McCutchen and Joey Bart. But, it wasn't enough as Skenes suffered the fourth loss of his career.
Full game highlights:
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
2:16 am - 04.09.2025NORTH SHOREAmid freezing temps, Pirates, Skenes take another loss
Through 25 career starts in his young career, Paul Skenes has proven that at times he can be almost untouchable. With a dangerous arsenal that mixes a high-velocity fastball with several pitches that complement it, including a "splinker" that is viewed as one of the best pitches in Major League Baseball, there's an understanding why he's one of the best pitchers in the game.
However, the 22-year-old right-hander has shown, at times, that he's in fact human and is susceptible to bad outings just like any other ace in the major leagues. Tuesday night at PNC Park, with the temperature dipping into the low-30s, was one of those nights.
The Cardinals got to Skenes for six hits and five earned runs, the first tying a career-high with the latter setting a new one, before earning a 5-3 win and handing the Pirates their eighth loss of the season.
Skenes also walked one hitter and struck out seven while throwing 98 pitches, 63 of which went for strikes.
"I just missed across the plate a couple times, basically let them get their A swings off a couple too many times," Skenes said. "Again I'd have to rewatch it. It's funny, a lot of the times you get away with those. Just didn't get away with them today. Kind of is what it is. You tip your cap to them."
On this night, Skenes mixed in seven different pitches, according to Baseball Savant, as he threw his fastball 29 times, his splinker 23 times and his sweeper 17 times. He also threw 12 sinkers, 10 sliders, six curveballs and one changeup. But it wasn't his pitch selection or his efficiency that plagued him, it was the location of his pitches.
Skenes set down the first six batters he faced in the Cardinals lineup, recording three strikeouts while getting two ground balls and one pop-up. A lead off single by Pedro Pagés in the third inning led to the Cardinals pushing three runs across the plate, in due part to a triple by Victor Scott II.
As you can see in the last frame of the video above, Skenes allowed his 1-1 fastball, which was clocked at 98.3 mph, to catch far too much of the plate and Scott did the rest. The hit had a 96.1 mph exit velocity as it carried all the way to the wall in centerfield and scored two runs. Skenes said he wanted to locate that pitch more on the inner half of the plate.
The Cardinals pushed another run across two hitters later, after Skenes struck out Willson Contreras for the second of three strikeouts, when Brendan Donovan hit a splinker on the outer edge of the plate to left field.
"It looked like they had a pretty good approach off him tonight," Derek Shelton said. "But, I mean, we usually don't see him leave that many balls in the middle of the plate, especially up. I think that's what got to him a little bit."
Skenes threw 26 pitches in the third inning before settling back into a rhythm and retiring six of the next seven batters he faced with Pagés reaching on a throwing error by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, his third through 12 games.
St. Louis then tagged Skenes for two more runs in the sixth as he left a splinker in the middle of the plate that Donovan sent down the right field line. After an Arenado walk, Alec Burleson drove in Donovan by hitting a curveball in the dead center of the strike zone.
Take a look:
Pagés then grounded out to the right side to drive in Arenado and tag Skenes for his fifth earned run.
After a start like tonight's, Skenes said he looks back to his start against the Dodgers in Los Angeles last season when he gave up four earned runs, his previous career high, on six hits while also striking out eight. He wasn't his best on that night, but he was able to rebound in his next start as he limited the Mariners to just three hits, but walked four and gave up two runs.
To Skenes, night's like tonight are going to happen and he believes they are part of the sport. He just has to find his own way to limit them.
"You kind of just got to tip your cap to them a little bit," Skenes said. "It's not something I'm going to lose any sleep over. It's just, it's the game. They're big leaguers. This is their fourth time seeing me. That's just sort of how it goes. Got to tip your cap. They just executed a little better than I did today."
Like it has been consistently throughout the start of the season, the Pirates' offense was almost non-existent for the first eight innings of the contest. They managed to get to Sonny Gray for just three hits over five innings of work with the lone bright spot being a Bryan Reynolds 391-foot home run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
They added two more in the ninth, thanks to an Alexander Canario single, a Reynolds double off the wall in left field and RBIs from both Andrew McCutchen and Joey Bart. But, it wasn't enough as Skenes suffered the fourth loss of his career.
Full game highlights:
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Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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