Paul Skenes Tames Tigers, FINALLY Gets Rewarded With Win
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates brushed off an abysmal performance this weekend by defeating the MLB-best Detroit Tigers 3-0 behind a dazzling start from Paul Skenes at PNC Park on Monday night.
How We Got There
Skenes (5-8) ended his winless drought after blanking the Tigers (60-41), who entered play with the best record in baseball, across six-strong innings.
The right-hander retired the first six batters he faced, worked out of a couple jams in the third and fourth innings before posting 1-2-3 fifth and sixth innings to end his night. He retired six of the final seven batters he faced
The Pirates (40-61) rallied for three runs with two outs in the second inning against Tigers starters Jack Flaherty. Spencer Horwitz singled home Ke’Bryan Hayes before Bryan Reynolds drove in two more with a bases-loaded single.
Braxton Ashcraft, Dennis Santana and David Bednar covered the final three innings. Bednar is now a perfect 14 for 14 in save opportunities this season.
Key Moment
Bryan Reynolds entered play with a .151 batting average in July but came up clutch to pad the Pirates’ lead with his two-run single in the second inning.
Star of the Game
Paul Skenes continued his dominant July. The Pirates’ ace hasn’t allowed a run in three of his four starts since the start of the month and has a 0.86 ERA over that span. This doesn’t include his scoreless All-Star Game start last week.
Stat to Know
This was Paul Skenes’ first win since May 28 against the Arizona Diamondbacks despite a 1.77 ERA over his last eight starts entering play. He hadn’t won a game at PNC Park since April 14.
Notable Performances
- Paul Skenes: 6.0 innings, three hits, no runs, one walk, six strikeouts, 86 pitches/55 strikes
- Spencer Horwitz: 3 for 4, one RBI, one run
- Ke’Bryan Hayes: 2 for 4, one run
- Bryan Reynolds: 1 for 4, two RBI
Noteworthy
- Andrew McCutchen passed Willie Stargell for 180th on the MLB all-time hit list with 2,233.
- Jack Flaherty hadn’t taken a loss against the Pirates since April 28, 2018, which was his first-career start against them. He entered play with a 10-1 record against Pittsburgh.
- Spencer Horwitz had his second three-hit game of the season. He also recorded three hits on June 22 against the Texas Rangers.
Up Next
RHP Mitch Keller (3-10, 3.48 ERA) will start for the Pirates in the second game of the series on Tuesday night. RHP Casey Mize (9-3, 3.15 ERA) goes for Detroit. First pitch: 6:40 p.m. ET.
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