Paul Skenes Indeed Human, Pirates’ Bats Heat Up Too Late Loss to Cardinals

PITTSBURGH — Paul Skenes has been exceptional since making his debut 11 months ago, but the right-hander looked surprisingly pedestrian on a frigid Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. 

Skenes (1-1) allowed a career-high five runs while it was too little too late for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ bats in a 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park.

How We Got There

Skenes went six-up, six-down through the first two innings but the Cardinals (5-6) touched home three times in the third. Victor Scott II tripled home a pair and scored on Brendan Donovan’s two-out single to left.

Bryan Reynolds hit a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth to bring the Pirates (4-8) within a pair. It was Reynolds’ second home run of the season.

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The Cardinals struck for two more against Skenes in the bottom of the sixth – once on an Alec Burleson RBI single and again on Pedro Pagés groundout with runners on the corners.

With runners on second and third and nobody out after a Reynolds’ double in the ninth, Andrew McCutchen plated a run with a groundout to short. Two batters later, Joey Bart ripped a double down the left field line to plate Reynolds.

With two outs, Tommy Pham, who represented the tying run, lined out to right fielder Jordan Walker to end the game.

Key Moment

The bottom of the Cardinals’ lineup sparked the three-run third inning. Pagés led off with a base hit and Masyn Winn delivered a one-out single prior to Scott’s two-run triple. 

Star of the Game

Cardinals starter Sonny Gray (2-0) didn’t seem to be impacted at all by the low-30s temperatures. He held the Pirates to one run on three hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out four.

Notable Pirates’ Performances

• Paul Skenes: 6.0 innings, six hits, five runs, one walk, seven strikeouts, 98 pitches/63 strikes
• Chase Shugart: 2.0 innings, one hit, no runs, one walk, one strikeout, 36 pitches/22 strikes
• Tim Mayza: 1.0 inning, no hits, no runs, no walks, one strikeout, 15 pitches/9 strikes.
• Bryan Reynolds: 2 for 4, one double, one home run, one RBI, two runs
• Joey Bart: 1 for 2, one double, one RBI

Stat to Know

Paul Skenes has taken the loss four times in his career. Three of those loses have come against the Cardinals. 

Noteworthy

• Andrew McCutchen’s RBI was the 1,100th of his career. That’s fifth-most among active players.
• Prior to first pitch, there was a moment of silence for former Pirates and Cardinals pitcher Octavio Dotel, who died at the age of 51.

Up Next

RHP Mitch Keller (1-1, 7.45 ERA) will start for the Pirates in the series finale on Sunday afternoon. He’ll be opposed by RHP Erick Fedde (1-1, 7.00 ERA). First pitch: 12:35 p.m. ET.