Skenes with historic showing as Pirates crush Cubs |
CHICAGO - There have been a lot of impressive pitching outings by rookies over the years. You had the Kerry Wood 20 strikeout game in 1998, followed by the 14 strikeout from Stephen Strasburg more than a decade later. Friday afternoon saw another dominating performance at Wrigley Field as the Pittsburgh Pirates (21-25) prospect Paul Skenes to the ball for the second time in his career.
Skenes was drafted in the first round of the 2023 MLB draft. He has dominated the Minor Leagues since his debut, which is a big reason why he is already in the majors. He made his first start against the Chicago Cubs (25-21) last Saturday and was lights out through four innings before coming undone in his final inning. What he did on Friday was nothing short of jaw-dropping. Skenes not only tossed six shutout innings but six no-hit innings against the Cubs while striking out 11 to become just the fifth rookie in MLB history to have 10 strikeouts and no hits allowed in a start. Pair that with Kyle Hendricks getting lit up again, and it was a long afternoon for the Cubs, who fell to the Pirates 9-3. “Not the results, obviously, but to be honest, I felt I made two bad pitches, which is crazy to look at that start and say that,” Hendricks said after the loss. “I thought the homer and then the [Nick] Gonzales double were two bad changeups. Other than that, I thought I was even better down in the zone. I thought I executed better than my last start. “Just bizarre. So many soft hits falling in front. Just got to stick with the process, stick with down in the zone, stick with executing and hopefully that’s got to switch.” In a game of contrasting pitching styles, Hendricks matched Skenes pitch for pitch in the first two innings, as he even struck out the side in the second. That accounted for three of his four strikeouts in the game, but things began to unravel quickly for him in the third. All it took for the Pirates offense to get rolling was a leadoff Rowdy Tellez single, giving the Pirates a baserunner. A few pitches later, Pittsburgh played long ball off of Hendricks, with Jared Triolo connecting for his second homer to put the Pirates in front 2-0. Any time you are trailing early in a game, it puts more pressure on your pitcher to keep things close, but given what Skenes was doing, this was a monumental deficit. Skenes started the game with seven straight strikeouts, tying Jacob DeGrom for the most consecutive strikeouts to start a game by a rookie. Pittsburgh held a 2-0 lead after the third. As has been the case for Hendricks in most of his starts this season, once he loses it, he loses it as the Pirates began to knock the ball around the yard the next two innings. Nick Gonzalez kept the pressure on with a one-out double only to come on the Yasmani Grandal single as the Pirates opened up the 3-0 lead. That single was followed by a pair of singles from Tellez and Triolo, with the Triolo one leading to two more runs to put the Cubs in a massive 5-0 hole. One inning later, it was the same story for Hendricks, who allowed two of the first three hitters he faced to reach base before a Gonzalez sacrifice fly made things 6-0. That was followed by two more singles, including another one from Grandal, as the Pirates opened up an 8-0 lead. That was the end of the road for Hendricks, who was lifted for Jose Cuas and saw him post his second straight scoreless outing since returning to the Cubs. If trailing by eight runs wasn't bad enough, try doing that when you have yet to put a runner on base as the one-out Michael Busch walk broke up the perfect game to put the Cubs first baserunner on. Skenes didn't let that get in his head, as he retired the final four hitters he faced to give the Pirates six no-hit innings. .@Pirates Paul Skenes is a monster!pic.twitter.com/5WUkr6THaT Like in his previous start against the Cubs, Skenes left with a lead, and it would be up to the bullpen to finish this job. Carmen Mlodzinski was the first man out of the pen, and after retiring the first two hitters he faced, Christopher Morel broke up the no-hit bid with a single. That was followed by another Busch walk, but once again, the Cubs were kept off the board. With Andrew McCutchen picking up a rare homer off Mark Leiter Jr to make things 9-0 in the ninth, the Cubs offense finally came to life and put the Pirates and their fans into a panic. Once again it was a two-out rally that got the offense rolling as Miguel Amaya put a great swing on an inside heater and put it a few rows into the seats to end the shutout bid 9-1. Miguel Amaya goes yard! pic.twitter.com/QAA1XPnotZ That homer was followed by a Mike Tauchman single, and just like that, the Pirates were going back to their bullpen with Ryder Ryan taking the ball. In what looked to be the beginning of a carbon copy from last Saturday, Ryan walked the first two hitters he faced, and suddenly, the bases were loaded. Given what Morel can do at the plate, one swing could drastically change this game, and although it wasn't a homer, Morel still delivered a big hit as his RBI double pulled the Cubs within 9-3. Christopher Morel rips a 2-run double! pic.twitter.com/CZ6TWj16L2 Unfortunately, that was all the offense the Cubs had in this one. The Pirates bounced back to retire the final four hitters and closed out the 9-3 victory to take the first two from the Cubs. The four hits the Cubs had from the seventh inning on were the only four hits they would have, as they struck out 15 times in the loss. Chicago will look to get back on track on Saturday as they send Shota Imanga to the mound. “To be honest, I thought I had two bad pitches today, which is crazy to look at that start and say that.” “We certainly need better … that’s not gonna be good enough.” Christopher Morel brought a group of kids to the field after today’s game.
Kyle Hendricks on his start today. pic.twitter.com/0zH7MWE1MR
Craig Counsell on Kyle Hendricks pic.twitter.com/GSwReMFzjz
The group is with Go Baseball Program from the Dominican Republic and is playing a tournament in the Chicagoland area.
For many of the kids, it was their first time in the United States. pic.twitter.com/ocprs5YFHk
