Skenes gets 1st win since early May

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – 56 days.

That’s how long it had been since the Pittsburgh Pirates last won a game with their “ace” Paul Skenes starting on the mound entering Tuesday. His only key accomplishment during that stretch? Being named a National League All-Star for the third time in three seasons. Skenes became just the fourth pitcher in MLB history to accomplish such a feat and the third-ever Pirate.

The selection was an interesting one, given that Skenes has strayed from his usual dominance for a good chunk of this season. What was even more interesting were Skenes’ comments when asked to reflect on his campaign days ago.

Despite being amid arguably the worst stretch of his career, Skenes said he was still “pleased with how the season has gone so far” and added that he feels as though he’s been “better this year than he was last year, even if it might not show up on the stat sheet”, per DK Pittsburgh Sports Pirates insider Jose Negron.

Seeing as pitchers are mainly judged by their statistics above all else in the MLB, those comments didn’t sit well with some of his fans.

Skenes’ outing against the Braves Tuesday night probably didn’t either, despite the Pirates finally bringing home a win for him in a 12-4 blowout win over the Braves. But Atlanta’s offense wasn’t as silent as that final score indicated, at least against Skenes.

Though Skenes finished the outing with only two earned runs to his name and logged four Ks, the eight total hits the Braves put up against him were the most he’d given up since May 23rd. Atlanta also logged at least a hit in all but one of Skenes’ six innings on the hill.

“Throughout the past stretch there’ve been a couple clunky outings, but there’s also been a lot of weak contact and I think today’s game was more of the same,” Skenes said.

Historic night for Ryan O'Hearn in Pirates win

Skenes ran into some trouble right out of the gate against the Braves, something that’s become far too common for him during his recent rocky streak. After sending down the first two batters he faced, Skenes allowed three straight Braves to reach base, which put Pittsburgh in an early 1-0 hole.

“Paul is a competitor that wants to win, and he does block out the noise very well, and it’s hard to do that when you’re as good as he is and the expectations that he puts on himself. To be able to navigate that and come out tonight against a good Braves lineup and pitch the way he did, especially with the way the first inning went (was huge). He’s such an elite competitor,” Pirates Manager Don Kelly said.

Despite the one-two-three inning that followed, Skenes still found himself already at 41 pitches through two frames. But thanks to Ryan O’Hearn’s first-inning grand slam, he had plenty of slack to work with for the remainder of his outing with his team ahead 4-1.

The Braves quickly cut into that deficit when they ripped back-to-back hits off Skenes to open the third, bringing home a run to make it 4-2. Still with zero outs, Skenes showed a fleeting moment of his past dominance when he sent down the next three Atlanta batters in order, which ended with an eight-pitch strikeout against Mauricio Dubón.

Given an even bigger cushion of 7-2 to open the fourth, Skenes saw the Braves rack up four more knocks on him over the final three frames of his outing. However, each of the batters he allowed on base during that stretch were stranded thanks to some solid defense behind him.

“When they put up seven runs in the first four innings, it makes it easy to just go up and attack,” Skenes said.

Skenes didn’t show off the level of dominance he has displayed in previous years Tuesday night, but there were certainly flashes of it during the game. Regardless, the outing was certainly a step in the right direction for one of baseball’s most talented arms as he continues to work his way out of an uncharacteristically brutal slump.

“It’s great to help the team win, and I can’t wait until (my next start) Sunday,” Skenes said.