Pirates

Pirates Preview: Paul Skenes Starts in First Meeting With Cardinals

Published

8 months ago

June 11, 2024

The Pittsburgh Pirates were unable to complete the sweep against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday before a day off on Monday.

The Pirates (31-34) fell 11-5 in 10 innings after the Twins rallied for seven runs in the extra frame. It was a tough end to a successful homestand for Pittsburgh, who went 4-2 against the Dodgers and Twins.

The Pirates will start a six-game road trip starting with their first matchup of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals (31-33) at Busch Stadium.

First pitch is 7:45 ET and the game will be aired on Sportsnet Pittsburgh.

Weather

Mostly sunny skies with temperatures around 80 degrees for the start of the game. Winds SSE at 6 mph.

The Pittsburgh Pirates Will Send Out RHP Paul Skenes (3-0, 3.00 ERA)

Skenes got the win against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday after allowing three runs in five innings while striking out eight.

Since making his major-league debut on May 11, Skenes’ 35.5% strikeout rate is second in baseball behind only the Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow.

Skenes has held opponents to a .212 batting average and a .615 OPS while inducing ground balls 50% of the time.

This is Skenes’ first-career start against St. Louis.

The St. Louis Cardinals Will Send Out RHP Miles Mikolas (4-6, 5.32 ERA)

Mikolas had a difficult start to the season but has been pitching much better in recent weeks.

Over his last five starts, the right-hander is 2-1 and has a 3.72 ERA. Over that stretch, opponents are hitting just .212 against him.

In his last start against the Astros in Houston, Mikolas allowed a pair of runs in six innings pitched. He didn’t walk a batter and punched out three.

The Pirates are the team Mikolas has faced the most in his career. In 21 appearances, he’s 5-6 with a 3.08 ERA.

Cardinals Hitters vs. Skenes

Pirates Hitters vs. Mikolas

Bryan Reynolds: 12 for 33, four doubles, four RBIs, one walk, four strikeouts
Andrew McCutchen: 2 for 19, three strikeouts
Rowdy Tellez: 6 for 18, one double, two home run, one walk, one strikeout
Ke’Bryan Hayes: 8 for 16, one double, one triple, two strikeouts
Jack Suwinski: 3 for 11, one double, one walk, four strikeouts
Michael A. Taylor: 1 for 6, one strikeout
Yasmani Grandal: 0 for 5, two strikeouts
Oneil Cruz: 2 for 4, one double, one triple, two RBIs, one strikeout

Tidbits

Bryan Reynolds has had at least one hit in each of the eight games to start June, his longest hitting streak of the season. He’s hitting .353 (12 for 34) since the calendar flipped.
Speaking of Reynolds, he’s started each of the Pirates’ first 65 games this season. The last Pirates’ player to start that many in a row to begin a year was Josh Bell (89 games) in 2018.
David Bednar has converted each of his last 12 save opportunities after blowing three of his first four chances to start the season.