Paul Skenes was so good Tuesday night that even Cardinals fans had to tip.
The rookie Pittsburgh Pirates sensation threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings against St. Louis while engaged in a pitching duel with Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas. Neither allowed a run or weighed in on the decision as Pittsburgh opened the game in the ninth inning for a 2-1 victory.
The start was the second of Skenes’ rookie campaign in which he did not allow a point. He threw six scoreless no-hit innings in his second MLB start, a 9-3 Pirates victory over the Chicago Cubs. He was pulled from that game after 100 pitches.
The Cardinals didn’t go hitless against Skenes, but they didn’t do any damage when he was on the mound. Skenes repeatedly confused 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 saw Winn fall to the bottom of the zone.
Paul Skenes has now struck out the first batter he faces in five of his six starts 👀
Masyn Winn was +300 today and struck out in his first plate appearance ✅pic.twitter.com/jQOo2THKAY
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) June 12, 2024
Burleson then swung and missed a third strike before Paul Goldschmidt lined out to end the inning. From there, the Cardinals racked up four hits over the next five innings before Skenes recorded his eighth strikeout of the night. This arrived via a 99mph heat on the outside corner which Nolan Gorman could not overtake.
Nolan Arenado then doubled to end Skenes’ night. Pirates manager Derek Shelton called on Aroldis Chapman to end the inning after Skenes’ 103rd pitch. The baseball-savvy Cardinals crowd appreciated what they saw and gave Skenes a standing ovation as he walked to the dugout.
Chapman ended the inning without a run allowed, and the Pirates’ bullpen limited the Cardinals to one run from then on.
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 across five starts.
He might have been the second-best pitcher on the mound Tuesday night. Mikolas pitched six no-hit innings before allowing a leadoff triple to Bryan Reynolds in the seventh. The Pirates didn’t convert the triple into a run, and Mikolas finished the night with one hit and one walk over seven scoreless innings, while striking out six.
The Pirates broke through on the scoreboard with two runs in the top of the ninth inning. Gorman then led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run off closer David Bednar, and the Cardinals added two runners on a walk and catcher’s interference call. But Bednar struck out Michael Siani to close out the Pirates’ win.
