In his second major league start, Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes provided the dominating performance fans expected in his debut last week.
The rookie wasn’t fazed by pitching against the Chicago Cubs for the second consecutive game, this time at Wrigley Field. Skenes struck out the first seven batters he faced. Pete Crow-Armstrong was the first Cubs hitter to put the ball in play, grounding out to first base in the third inning. That was followed by a Miguel Amaya groundout to third base.
Skenes allowed no hits during six innings and finished with 11 strikeouts, surpassing the seven in his first start. His day was finished after throwing 100 pitches, 67 of them for strikes. Carmen Mlodzinski took over for Pittsburgh in the seventh inning.
The Cubs finally reached base in the fifth inning when Michael Busch drew an eight-pitch walk. Though the first baseman batted 0-for-1 against Skenes, he did make the rookie work by fouling off several pitches and drawing out his at-bats.
Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks couldn’t match Skenes, which is to be expected for a pitcher who doesn’t really hit 100 mph on the radar gun. But the 11-year veteran gave up eight runs (seven earned) and 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings. He was replaced by Jose Cuas, who pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief.
The Pirates broke the game open in the fourth inning with three straight hits to drive in three runs. The big blow was a two-run single by Jared Triolo, who also hit a two-run home run in the third. That was followed up by a three-run fifth inning, with two runs knocked in on a Yasmani Grandal single.
