Paul Skenes and Konnor Griffin shared the field for the first time as Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night, and the 23-year-old right-hander and 19-year-old rookie shortstop flashed why they are billed as generational talents.
The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, Skenes flirted with a no-hitter for five-plus innings in recording six strikeouts with two hits and two walks for his first quality start of the season.
Griffin used his elite sprint speed for an infield single to snap out of a funk and scored from first on Oneil Cruz’s double down the right-field line in the fifth inning, then roped a two-run single in the eighth.
The Pirates went opposite field for 10 of their 12 hits and used a five-run eighth inning to pull away from the San Diego Padres for a 7-1 win before 9,061 at PNC Park.
“Big performances, Paul on the mound, dominating the strike zone being able to mix and match and then having Konnor makes things look so easy,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “I thought Konnor took great swings tonight, even the balls that weren’t hits, I thought that he had really good passes at the ball. It’s a testament to him. It’s what Paul does. It’s what all our guys do: continue to work, continue to grind and even after a tough game last night, showing up today and competed really well.”
After watching Griffin go 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored, Skenes called Griffin a “difference maker” and noted that his presence is that of a “big leaguer, through and through.”
“It’s great. It’s the player that we all know that he is and that he’s going to be,” Skenes said. “Sometimes, it takes a little bit to break out. It was nice to see today. It’s going to be exciting to watch.”
Skenes (2-1) lowered his ERA from 9.53 to 5.25 by allowing one run in 6 1⁄3 innings. It was the deepest he’s taken a no-hit bid in a game since his rookie season, when he went seven innings without allowing a hit July 11, 2024, at Milwaukee.
Padres starter Nick Pivetta (1-2) struck out five of the first eight batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until Henry Davis hit a fly ball that dropped between right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. and second baseman Jake Cronenworth in shallow right field for a double with two outs in the third. But Cruz grounded out to first to end the inning.
The only baserunners Skenes allowed through the first five innings were Manny Machado, on a walk in the second inning, and Miguel Andujar, who was hit by a 97.1-mph sinker on a full count with two outs in the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth, Spencer Horwitz singled to left, and Griffin snapped an 0-for-14 funk by sprinting an elite 30.2 feet per second to beat Machado’s throw from third for an infield single, his first hit since roping an RBI double in his MLB debut.
When Cruz hit a sharp grounder down the third-base line for a double, Griffin was hot on the heels of Horwitz and slid headfirst to beat Ramon Laureano’s throw to home plate and give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.
“That was a huge hit to come up in that moment and shoot one the other way and score two runs, to get Paul two,” Kelly said. “Huge at-bat, huge hit in that moment and I think Oneil has done a fantastic job with two strikes this year so far, and against left handers he’s been a lot better.”
The Padres broke up Skenes’ no-hit bid in the sixth. After Cronenworth drew a leadoff walk and Laureano grounded into a forceout at second, Tatis singled to left. But Skenes got Jackson Merrill to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to keep the Padres scoreless and end the inning.
Kelly was impressed with Griffin’s play at shortstop, especially a backhanded stop to get Tatis to lead off the fourth inning.
“It looked like it was going to be bang-bang at first, and he unleashed a cannon of a throw,” Kelly said, “and then the double play, him and Gonzo turned in a big moment there was great.”
Ryan O’Hearn and Nick Yorke hit back-to-back singles off Bradgley Rodriguez with one out in the sixth, but he got Nick Gonzales to ground to Machado for a double play to end the rally.
With one out in the seventh, Xander Bogaerts lined a 2-2 fastball 383 feet to left field for his first home run to cut it to 2-1. It was the first homer allowed by a Pirates starting pitcher this season, ending a streak that lasted 53 2/3 innings over 10-plus games. That was the longest in MLB to start a season since the Boston Red Sox went 13 games in 1992.
Isaac Mattson relieved Skenes and got the final two outs of the seventh, and lefty Gregory Soto fielded a Cronenworth bunt, got Laureano to pop out to second and froze Tatis with a sweeper for a called third strike for a clean eighth.
The Pirates loaded the bases with one out in the eighth after successive singles by Bryan Reynolds and O’Hearn and an error by Bogaerts at shortstop on Yorke’s grounder up the middle. Gonzales drove in two runs with a single down the right-field line to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead.
Jake Mangum followed with a pinch-hit RBI single to right to make it 5-1, and Griffin hit a two-run single to left-center to stretch it to a six-run advantage as the Pirates pounded five hits in the eighth. Yohan Ramirez struck out Merrill, and Machado and got Bogaerts to ground out to second to end the game.
But this was a game that was all about Skenes and Griffin and the promise of potential the dynamic duo provides for the Pirates.
“I mean, it’s unbelievable, the way he competes on the mound, the way he fires us up in this clubhouse,” Griffin said of Skenes. “We want to get runs for him because he’s going to dominate every time he goes out there. If we can just scratch some runs for him, then we’ll get him a win …
“That was awesome. Getting him a win, when a guy throws like that, you’ve got to score runs for that man. That was an awesome win, everybody did their job and I was glad to be a part of it.”