Paul Skenes vs. the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers is a showdown that’s already repeatedly captivated the baseball world in Skenes’ short tenure as a big-leaguer.
Friday’s series opener for the Pittsburgh Pirates in Los Angeles marked the third time Skenes has met the Dodgers, as he went 1-1 against Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Co. in 2024.
Skenes taking the hill at Dodger Stadium predictably created enough buzz for MLB Network to pick up the game and broadcast it to a national audience.
Over 6⅓ innings, he again lived up to the hype, blanking the defending World Series champions, striking out nine and helping the Pirates to a 3-0 win.
Skenes (3-2, 2.39 ERA) allowed five hits, walked none and threw 69 of his career-high 108 pitches for strikes.
“Really just about executing,” Skenes said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “Sometimes there’s a two or a three in the run column when you execute, but (tonight) it was a zero, so felt good. I felt like we pulled it out. You saw it today with a lot of the hits that (the Dodgers) got — even when you execute, they’re still going to find ways to get on. … That’s just the nature of it. They’re really good hitters. Just have to find ways to get though innings.”
Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto entered the night with a 0.93 ERA, but the Pirates knocked him out of the game after five innings, scoring three runs without any extra-base hits.
The Pirates, fresh off a series win in Anaheim against the Angels, struck in the first inning before Skenes took the mound, courtesy of an RBI single from Enmanuel Valdez.
Valdez plated Oneil Cruz, who drew a leadoff walk and stole second, tagging Yamamoto with his first earned run since March 28 to go up 1-0 early.
Skenes won the initial round of the evening against the Dodgers’ heavyweights, retiring Ohtani and Betts via flyout before striking out Freeman in the bottom of the first.
In the second, he averted any damage from a Tesocar Hernandez single by recording two more punchouts.
On top of allowing his first run in nearly a month, Yamamoto’s outing Friday was uncharacteristically erratic in terms of accuracy.
By the third inning, he’d issued a career-high four walks.
Granted, the Pirates (11-16) were unable to capitalize in any instance following their first-inning run.
Skenes extinguished fires in the third and fourth, both in impressive fashion.
In the third, he gave up a one-out ground-rule double to Andy Pages, which brought Ohtani back to the plate.
Ohtani hit a grounder that Skenes fielded and tossed to third, eventually nabbing Pages in a rundown.
While Ohtani advanced to second base before Pages was tagged out, Skenes then got Betts to ground out, ending the inning.
In the fourth, Skenes navigated around a leadoff double by Freeman, who reached third on an error in right field by Bryan Reynolds, by recording three straight outs, including a strikeout of Tommy Edman with a nasty sweeper.
“He’s going to continue to learn, he’s going to continue to get better, but I think the one thing is, at 22 years old, his ability to mix and match is very special for someone with this little major-league experience,” manager Derek Shelton said.
The Pirates then added to their lead in the fifth, with Cruz plating Henry Davis with an RBI single, 117.6 mph off the bat.
Davis had gotten aboard and was awarded second base on a throwing error to first by Max Muncy, setting up Cruz’s hit.
The Pirates stayed on Yamamoto in the fifth, making it 3-0 when Ke’Bryan Hayes sent an RBI single up the middle, scoring Cruz from third base.
Cruz, who moved to second on an Andrew McCutchen single, made it to third when Valdez grounded into a force out, erasing McCutchen at second.
In the bottom of the fifth, a two-out double by Pages, his second of the evening, brought Ohtani back to bat for his third at-bat.
But once again, Skenes won the matchup, striking him out with a curveball in the dirt.
Shelton allowed Skenes to begin the seventh inning at 103 pitches.
Five pitches and a strikeout of Will Smith later, his evening was over, with Ryan Borucki coming out of the bullpen to complete the inning.
In the eighth, the Pirates turned to Dennis Santana to preserve the lead and he got the job done, recovering from a leadoff single by Pages.
David Bednar, riding a streak of three straight scoreless outings since his April 19 recall from Triple-A Indianapolis, took the mound in the ninth.
Featured Local Businesses
Recording two strikeouts, Bednar shut the door, earning his second save of the year and first since March 28.
“Paul set the tone. Today, he had everything going,” Hayes said. “Those are some of the best hitters in the world and some of the swings he was getting just shows how really good he is. Everyone did their job today. Good team win and it was great to see (Bednar) back in the closing role.”