Rookie sensation Paul Skenes will take the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night, taking on the Chicago Cubs for the fourth time this season.
The right-hander’s first two starts were both against Chicago, including a memorable second start in which he was replaced after pitching six hitless innings and striking out 11 at Wrigley Field.
He last played against the Cubs last Wednesday, when he left the game with a lead, but the Cubs rallied for 11 runs in the final three innings to win, 14-10.
It was part of a three-game series in which Chicago scored 41 runs while sweeping the Pirates. Pittsburgh started the three-game series in better form Monday, scoring five runs in the final two innings to win, 5-3.
Bryan Reynolds hit a three-run homer to tie the game in the eighth inning and Andrew McCutchen hit a game-winning homer two batters later to end Chicago’s season-high six-game winning streak.
“So you just can’t give up,” said McCutchen, who extended his hitting streak to 14 games. “It started with the guys who came before me. Brian hit a three-run homer to tie the game. So, I took a good swing and got the out. It was a good game, a good win.”
Pittsburgh has struggled, going just 8-19, but there’s always hope when Skenes takes the mound.
The 22-year-old started in the National League All-Star Game and lived up to the hype as one of the most promising pitching prospects in recent baseball history.
Skenes (8-2, 2.23 ERA) struck out 136 batters in 109 innings and held batters to a .201 batting average.
“Probably focus,” Skenes said of his biggest trait, “Just showing up every day and putting in the work. I don’t think it’s what people see, but just coming out here every day and putting in quality work, both now and in the offseason. That’s the biggest thing that helps me.”
Skenes is competing for National League Rookie of the Year honors with San Diego Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill, who is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in three games against the Cubs.
Chicago’s Nico Hoerner (2-for-3) homered against Skenes, but Michael Bush and Isaac Paredes were both 0-for-5 against Skenes.
Chicago missed a big opportunity with a slump on Monday, when Jorge Lopez hit two home runs and fell 3.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the race for the third wild card spot in the National League. The New York Mets are half a game behind the Braves.
The Cubs had won nine of their previous 10 games and scored 99 runs during that stretch, but all they could muster on Monday was a solo homer by Dansby Swanson and a two-run triple by Ian Happ.
Right-hander Jameson Taillon pitched seven scoreless innings for Chicago, but the decision to replace Taillon with Lopez after 89 pitches didn’t work out.
“He had a bad night (Monday),” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of Lopez, “but that was the decision and it was an easy decision.”
Right-hander Kyle Hendricks (3-10, 6.75 ERA) will start Tuesday. Counsell said after Monday’s game that left-hander Justin Steele will be out with elbow soreness.
That’s probably fine with the Pirates, since they beat Hendricks last Wednesday, giving up six runs and eight hits in 1 2/3 innings.
Hendricks, 34, is 9-14 with a 4.09 ERA in 32 career starts against Pittsburgh. He is 0-1 with an 11.12 ERA in three games against the Pirates in 2024.
Connor Joe was 9-for-16 against Hendricks, and Reynolds (9-for-38) hit two home runs off him.
–Field Level Media
