Skenes Bests Holliday, Pirates Best Orioles in Spring Breakout Game

Paul Skenes got the best of top prosect Jackson Holliday, and the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles 3-1 in the Spring Breakout game at LECOM Park on Thursday.

Skenes, the top pitching prospect in baseball, struck out top overall prospect Jackson Holliday in their lone matchup int he first inning. The six-pitch battle ended with a swinging strike three. In the at-bat, Skenes touched 101.7 mph with his fastball.

Best on best, Skenes gets the best of Holliday. #SpringBreakout pic.twitter.com/zrmjer2u5v

— MLB (@MLB) March 14, 2024

In the bottom of the first, Jack Brannigan drove in Tsung-Che Cheng with a sacrifice fly to put the Pirates’ prospects up 1-0. Cheng walked and Termarr Johnson was the front-end of back-to-back singles with Lonnie White Jr. to open the game.

Baltimore drew even in the top of the second off of Braxton Ashcraft on Jud Fabian’s sacrifice fly.

Garret Forrester drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second inning. He worked his way to third base and scored on a balk called against Orioles pitcher Cade Povich to put the Pirates back out in front.

The Pirates received an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning on Mitch Jebb’s sacrifice fly to center field.

Bubba Chandler closed out the win in the ninth inning for the save and capped off a one-hit performance by the Pirates’ pitching prospects.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

• Paul Skenes’ scoreless inning of work to open the game included two strikeouts and a groundout.
• Left-hander Hunter Barco threw a pair of scoreless innings, Khristian Curtis and Patrick Reilly all tossed scoreless innings.
• Jase Bowen finished the game 2 for 3. Termarr Johnson, Lonnie White Jr. and Tony Blanco Jr. all contributed hits.
• Garret Forrester drew a walk in each of his two plate appearances and scored a run.

UP NEXT

The Pittsburgh Pirates will return to Grapefruit League play on Friday when they head to Tampa to face the New York Yankees. Quinn Priester will be on the mound for the Pirates. Fellow right-hander Clarke Schmidt will pitch for New York. First pitch: 6:35 ET.