PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – For the second time in four starts Paul Skenes went eight innings giving up only a run and he lost both of those games. Tuesday night a 392-foot home run by first baseman Christian Walker was the only scoring off him, in the ninth a two-run homer by Isaac Paredes off Dennis Santana, as the Pirates open the homestand with a 3-0 loss to Houston.
In his last start in Arizona, Skenes got 10 runs of support when he only needed one. In his last five starts Skenes has given up a total of four runs and has won ONE game. The 23-year-old drops to 4-6 on the season with 85 strikeouts and a 2.05 ERA in 83.1 innings.
"It's kind of one of those things where you can only do so much," Skenes said. "They guessed right. That was enough today. Gotta rewatch the game — I didn't watch much of our offense — but we'll watch it again and see what we got tomorrow.
Bucs got only two runners to second base all night and only one to third, Oneil Cruz with two outs in the first inning. The Pirates had leadoff hits in the seventh and eighth innings, both Nick Gonzales and Cruz were caught stealing, Cruz was initially safe but his hand came off the bag after his slide and was tagged out.
It was the first game where the Pirates had a semblance of what they expected their lineup to be like to begin the season with Gonzales back from the 60-day injured list with Spencer Horwitz at first base. The only current injury impacting the starters is catcher Joey Bart remains on the concussion list. Pirates managed four singles, leaving four on base and striking out nine times.
"I think where it does get frustrating is Paul puts up a great start and we don't score any runs there, and I think that it's something that everybody feels," said Pirates manager Don Kelly. "I just don't want to overreact to it. Yes, it's a big deal, we need to be better, but we did a really good job on the road trip to find ways to piece some together and score some runs and get back to doing that tomorrow."
1-2 punch
After 2024 Pirates first-round pick Konnor Griffin doubled to lead off the Single A Bradenton game at Clearwater, 2024 second-round pick Wyatt Sanford homered. It was his first at bat in A ball after playing in the rookie league to start the season. The 19-year-old lefty-hitting shortstop was the 47th overall pick last July out of Texas. The home run matched his total HRs in rookie ball in 20 games.
Up Next
Mike Burrows will make his third start since being called up from AAA. The righty is 0-1, 8.64 ERA against RHP Ryan Gusto (3-2, 4.62 ERA) with the first pitch at 6:40 and Dan Zangrilli starting the North Shore Tavern Leadoff Show at 5:45p on 93.7 The Fan.