Paul Skenes continues to prove his worth on the mound, although the results don’t always reflect his dominance. The young pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates has established a routine of solid performances, but wins elude him.
In his most recent outing, Skenes pitched 7⅔ innings against the Philadelphia Phillies, allowing only one unearned run on two hits, seven strikeouts, and one walk. Although he was replaced with the score tied at 1, his performance was key to the eventual victory of the Pirates.
Despite not taking the win, Skenes lowered his ERA to 1.88, ranking as the second-best in the National League, only behind Kodai Senga of the New York Mets (1.59).
Skenes made 97 pitches, 62 of them for strikes. Manager Don Kelly decided to replace him in the eighth inning with reliever Braxton Ashcraft.“I think we’ve been playing pretty well lately and, either we haven’t gotten (wins), or we’ve lost by a run or something like that in some games. I’m happy with the baseball we’ve been playing. It’s also nice to get some wins. It’s easy to get into a losing streak, so we have to keep going.”
Paul Skenes
Ashcraft earned his first major league win, with Andrew McCutchen hitting a single with a broken bat in the eighth inning. Ashcraft closed out the game in the ninth, forcing a double play to secure the victory.“We felt Skenes was done. He emptied the tank in that inning. I felt it was an opportunity to go with Ashcraft at that point. Incredible. What can you say (about Skenes)? He just kept filling up the strike zone, elite stuff. Early, very sharp. In the middle, it seemed like he was leaking a little bit. That’s how he’s shown he’s able to dial back in and command the strike zone. He was incredible again today.”
Don Kelly
In his previous outing against the Houston Astros, Skenes allowed one run on three hits with eight strikeouts in eight innings, but the Pirates lost 3-0. Skenes has a 1-4 record in his last eight starts, despite allowing only five runs in 42⅓ innings in his last six outings. The Pirates have averaged 3.35 runs in his 14 starts and he has a 0-2 record in three games where he has reached the eighth inning, despite allowing a total of three runs (two earned).“It means a lot after someone has a really good outing. Skenes has done it consistently this year. It means a lot to us, as a team, to be able to go out there and get him that win. He didn’t get the win. I got the win. But, I mean, he got it as much as I did.”
Braxton Ashcraft
Cristopher Sanchez of the Phillies matched Skenes’ performance, allowing two runs and striking out nine in seven innings.
“It’s fun. Pitching in 10-0 games is also fun.”
Paul Skenes
