Plenty of coaches and players inside the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse could easily fire off cliche after cliche on the importance of treating every game the same and doing their utmost to win each individual contest.
While there’s nothing wrong with that approach, for the Pirates, the stakes are simply different and the importance of winning rises every game that features Paul Skenes on the mound.
The Pirates need to take advantage of Skenes’ unique and advantageous presence as much as possible, even more so given the club is already teetering on the brink of ruin, having entered Thursday’s series finale vs. the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park seven games under .500.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, with an NL Central divisional series win up for grabs, Skenes was not near his best Thursday, allowing a career-high three home runs in a 8-3 loss.
Skenes (3-3, 2.74 ERA) was charged with the defeat, pitching five innings while allowing three runs on five hits with a career-low two strikeouts in front of 13,633 fans.
He threw 49 of his season-low 86 pitches for strikes.
The Cubs (19-13) did all their damage against Skenes in the fifth, when Dansby Swanson, Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki all left the yard.
Suzuki and Swanson both connected on splinkers from Skenes, while Tucker’s homer into the left field stands came on a fastball.
Prior to Thursday, Skenes had given up only two home runs in six starts this season, as well as a total of four walks.
Accuracy issues emerged for Skenes in the third inning, as he walked three straight batters (Ian Happ, Tucker and Suzuki) for the first time in his career to load the bases with an out.
But Skenes, who walked a total of two batters over five April starts and had four on the year entering Thursday, promptly got Michael Busch to hit into an inning-ending double play, putting out the fire.
In the bottom of the first, Bryan Reynolds put the Pirates (12-20) up 1-0, hitting a 3-2 sinker from Cubs starter Colin Rea over the Clemente Wall for his fourth homer of the year.
Then, in the bottom of the third, Oneil Cruz scored Henry Davis, who walked, with an RBI double to left-center field, putting the Pirates ahead 2-0.
Following Skenes’ departure, bench coach Don Kelly, who managed the Pirates Thursday on behalf of Derek Shelton, who was absent attending his son’s college graduation, inserted Joey Wentz.
Wentz pitched a clean sixth and recorded two outs in the seventh but was replaced by Kyle Nicolas with Happ, who singled, on first.
Chicago then went up 5-2, with Suzuki taking Nicolas deep to left field for his second homer of the game, a two-run shot.
Wentz, responsible for Happ, was charged with one earned run.
Rea (2-0, 1.46 ERA) was the winning pitcher Thursday.
He delivered six innings, allowing two runs on four hits with a pair of walks and strikeouts.
While they took an early lead, the Pirates’ offense largely fizzled out after the third inning, finishing with a total of five hits.
The Pirates attempted to rally in the eighth against Chicago reliever Porter Hodges, putting men on second and third with no outs.
After Davis singled and Cruz got aboard on a fielder’s choice and error at shortstop by Swanson, Porter threw a wild pitch, allowing both runners to advance.
Reynolds then made it 5-3, scoring Davis with an RBI groundout.
But one run would be all the Pirates managed, as Andrew McCutchen grounded out and Ke’Bryan Hayes lined out to end the inning.
In the ninth, the Cubs added three more runs, tagging Hunter Stratton for four hits to go up 8-3.
Happ (RBI double) and Busch (two-run single) did the damage for Chicago.