Paul Skenes was so good Tuesday night that even Cardinals fans had to tip their hats.
The Pittsburgh Pirates rookie sensation pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings against St. Louis while locked in a pitching duel with Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas. Neither allowed a run or participated in the decision as Pittsburgh opened the game in the ninth inning for a 2-1 victory.
The start was the second of Skenes’ rookie season in which he did not allow a run. He pitched six hitless innings in his second MLB start, a 9-3 Pirates victory over the Chicago Cubs. He was removed from that game after 100 pitches.
The Cardinals didn’t go hitless against Skenes but didn’t do any damage when he was on the mound. Skenes repeatedly baffled hitters with his combination of overwhelming power and movement on his breaking pitches.
He opened the game with consecutive strikeouts of Masyn Winn and Alec Burleson. He iced Winn with a third-strike curveball that Winn saw fall to the back of the zone.
Paul Skenes has now struck out the first batter he faced in five of his six starts
Masyn Winn was +300 to strike out in his first plate appearance today pic.twitter.com/jQOo2THKAY
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) June 12, 2024
Burleson then swung and missed a strike three curveball before Paul Goldschmidt hit a line drive to end the inning. From there, the Cardinals managed four hits over the next five innings before Skenes recorded his eighth strikeout of the night. This one hit 99 mph on the outside corner that Nolan Gorman couldn’t catch up to.
Nolan Arenado then doubled to end Skenes’ night. Pirates manager Derek Shelton asked Aroldis Chapman to end the inning after Skenes’ 103rd pitch. A baseball-savvy Cardinals crowd appreciated what they witnessed and gave Skenes a standing ovation as he walked to the dugout.
Chapman closed the inning without allowing a run, and the Pirates bullpen held the Cardinals to one run from there.
Skenes’ final line: 6 1/3 innings pitched, five hits allowed, zero runs, eight strikeouts and zero walks. He threw 74 of his 103 pitches for strikes and lowered his season-long ERA to 2.43 in 33 1/3 innings over five starts.
He was arguably the second-best pitcher on the mound Tuesday night. Mikolas pitched six hitless innings before allowing a triple to Bryan Reynolds in the seventh. The Pirates didn’t turn the triple into a run, and Mikolas finished the night allowing one hit and one walk in seven scoreless innings while striking out six.
The Pirates broke through with two runs in the top of the ninth. Gorman then led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run off closer David Bednar, and the Cardinals added two baserunners with a walk and a catcher’s interference call. But Bednar struck out Michael Siani to close out the Pirates’ victory.