In his final tune-up of spring training, Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes started Saturday afternoon versus the Toronto Blue Jays at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla.
Skenes, who made one other start (Feb. 25) this spring and is fresh from winning a silver medal with the United States at the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday, allowed zero runs over four innings in a 8-3 Pirates victory.
The Pirates opted to end Skenes’ start after 65 pitches, 35 of which were strikes. A first-inning double to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was the lone hit surrendered by Skenes (1.42 ERA), who punched out five with three walks.
The 23-year-old reigning NL Cy Young winner did not touch 100 mph on any of his pitches Saturday, his fastest coming in at 97.2 mph in the first inning.
Oneil Cruz went 2 for 4 with a two-run homer, and Brandon Lowe was 3 for 4 in the win.
“I thought (Skenes) threw the ball well,” manager Don Kelly told reporters after the game. “He had some bits and pieces there where you kind of felt like he lost command, but that’s the thing that he’s got the ability to do: rein it back in and make pitches when he has to. Thought he threw all of his pitches in the zone when he needed to and he did a nice job. He was working on some stuff today.”
Skenes struck out the side in the top of the second, requiring 11 pitches to retire Daulton Varsho, Kazuma Okamoto and Ernie Clement.
The Pirates (17-11) got on the board in the third courtesy of a Bryn Reynolds sacrifice fly, which scored Cruz, who singled, stole second and reached third on a Lowe base hit.
Following a quick top of the fourth from Skenes, Spencer Horwitz took Blue Jays (11-14) starter Kevin Gausman deep for a solo shot to right field, handing the Pirates a 2-0 lead.
Before the inning was through, after Henry Davis got aboard on an error and made his way to third on a Billy Cook single, Alika Williams made it 3-0, scoring Davis with a sacrifice fly.
Dennis Santana, relieving Skenes in the fifth, let up a run on two hits, with Nathan Lukes collecting an RBI. Isaac Mattson delivered a scoreless sixth.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Pirates went up 4-1 as Williams added another RBI by singling home Konnor Griffin, who stole second after reaching base on a forceout.
Moments later, Cruz connected on a 2-1 fastball from Jorge Alcala for a two-run homer, his second of the spring, scoring Williams and handing the Pirates a 6-1 advantage.
“It was good to see,” Kelly said of Cruz’s homer. “And then going the other way, too — it was a big one.”
Toronto, which failed to score with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, made it 6-3 in the eighth. Geovanny Planchart doubled and was plated on a triple by Jay Harry, with Harry coming home to score on a Cade Doughty groundout.
Both runs were charged to Jose Urquidy.
But the Pirates added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, courtesy of a wild pitch by Toronto’s Angel Bastardo and an RBI single by P.J. Hilson, who replaced Cruz in center field in the top frame.
Urquidy stayed on to close things out in the ninth.
Note: The Pirates reassigned 19-year-old shortstop Konnor Griffin, the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball, to minor league camp following Saturday’s game against Toronto. Mitch Keller (0-1, 5.56 ERA) is set to start for the Pirates on Sunday afternoon versus the Boston Red Sox in Bradenton. Three-time All-Star Sonny Gray (0-1, 6.23 ERA) is expected to start for Boston.