Pittsburgh Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes will get his first chance to pitch in his hometown on Saturday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The closest Skenes has come to pitching this season to his hometown of Orange County was on July 29 against Houston, where he gave up two runs (one earned) in six innings. On Sunday, Skenes (6-1, 1.99 ERA) allowed just two runs over 5 1/3 innings in a home win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
He has allowed two runs or less in 12 of his first 14 career starts.
One of the two games in which Skenes gave up three runs came at home against the Dodgers on June 5, when he pitched five innings. His six hits that day were his season-high. Skenes gave up home runs to Dodgers pitchers Shohei Ohtani and Andy Page in that game, but still finished the night with the win, earning his third career win.
Skenes, who started for the National League in last month’s All-Star Game, struck out 107 batters in 86 innings.
Skenes, whose control is always precise, walked a season-high three batters in each of his past two starts and threw 100 pitches Sunday in his shortest appearance since June 5.
“This is the first time we’ve really seen him spread the ball around a little bit,” Pirates coach Derek Shelton said.
The Dodgers will counter with rookie River Ryan (1-0, 1.72 ERA), a right-hander with far less experience than Skenes, having started just three games since his July 22 debut.
Ryan gave up five hits and two runs in 4 2/3 innings while striking out four in his most recent appearance at Oakland on Sunday. He has walked three batters in each of his three starts.
Ryan, playing against Pittsburgh for the first time, will be grateful for the kind of scoring support the Dodgers provided in a 9-5 win over the Pirates on Friday. Freddie Freeman, Ohtani and Enrique Hernandez all homered. Ohtani’s 448-foot homer moved him to 35 career homers, leading the National League.
But despite winning four of their last six games, the Dodgers have struggled to hold off two red-hot division rivals: the San Diego Padres, who are on a six-game winning streak, are 2.5 games back, and the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are 15-5 since the All-Star break, are 3.5 games back. Los Angeles was 8.5 games back as of July 23.
“We’re very aware of that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “and I’d be lying if I said there aren’t people looking at the scoreboard and appreciating how well other teams in our division are playing. We just have a responsibility to play good baseball.”
Freeman has had a hit in each of the four games he has played since missing eight games to be with his 3-year-old son, who is recovering from a health scare.
“I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel after not pitching for 10 days, but I feel good at the plate,” Freeman told SportsNet L.A. “It feels good hitting the ball hard.”
Not only did Dodgers right-hander Jack Flaherty strike out 10 in his home debut for his new team on Friday, but his pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts on the night.
The Dodgers won the first game of the series after the Pirates won two of three games when the two teams met in Pittsburgh in early June.
–Field Level Media
