Paul Skenes on Tuesday night slowly sauntered back to the Pittsburgh Pirates dugout at the end of the top of the eighth inning, his loping and deliberate strides giving the PNC Park crowd plenty of time to rise for the kind of standing ovation that is becoming commonplace at the end of his starts.
The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner tipped his cap, then disappeared from view for a quick debrief with Pirates manager Don Kelly after finishing with a season-high 10 strikeouts.
Sure, the competitor in Skenes wanted the opportunity to go back out for the ninth in search for the first complete game victory of his big league career, but the remarkably mature 23-year-old who is constantly trying to keep things in perspective knew better.
Photo: Charles LeClaire-Imagn
His first pitch of the eighth, a fastball, hit just 93.7mph (150.8kph), pedestrian by his standards.
So Skenes told Kelly he was done after 98 pitches and eight innings of two-hit brilliance and the chance for that elusive shutout had to wait. Skenes quietly gave way to Gregory Soto, who got the final three outs of a 3-1 win over Colorado that pushed Skenes’ record to 6-2 and whittled his ERA to 1.98.
“It’s a long season,” Skenes said. “That was start nine out of 32, 33 and then hopefully eight or nine more after that. So, just got to see the big picture.”
Photo: William Purnell-Imagn Images
He carried a no-hitter into the seventh while retiring 18 of the first 19 batters he faced, the third time in his past four starts he has not allowed a hit until the fifth or later.
Colorado spent six innings flailing away against Skenes before Mickey Moniak’s sinking line-drive single to left-center with one out in the seventh. Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz stretched out every centimeter of his 2m frame to make the grab, only to see it bounce in front of his glove.
“I ran so hard that I’ll tell you right now, I would not run after my kids like that,” Cruz said afterward with a laugh.
While the Pirates remain without a no-hitter since Francisco Cordova and Ricardo Rincon teamed for a 10-inning masterpiece in July 1997 — nearly five years before Skenes was born — there is a growing sense that it is not a matter of if Skenes will make history, but when.
Kelly turned to pitching coach Bill Murphy at one point in the game and admitted he felt like he was enduring a flashback of sorts to his time as a player in Detroit in the early 2010s, when it seemed like Tigers ace Justin Verlander could do no wrong.
“You were shocked when he gave up a hit,” Kelly said. “And Paul is on that type of run right now. Just the way that he’s throwing the ball, the command in the zone, too, and then to be able to mix it up with all of his pitches. Impressive to watch.”
In New York, the struggling Tigers, down 6-2 to the New York Mets, brought in Taiwan’s Lee Hao-yu to pinch hit in the top of the seventh.
The infielder singled to right field and got into scoring position on third base off a double from Kevin McGonigle, but never got a chance to score.
He got another single in the ninth, but the Tigers were unable to score, losing 10-2 to the renewed Mets.
In Houston, Texas, the Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh finally ended his hitless streak, picking up two singles in their 10-2 romp over the Astros, after the star catcher took a shower in full uniform after Monday’s game.
“Logan [Gilbert] gave me some good advice to wash off the bad mojo or juju from the baseball gods,” Raleigh said. “So yeah, it worked. He was right, so I got to give him credit where credit’s due.”
Elsewhere, the Tampa Bay Rays survived the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 in 10 innings, the Atlanta Braves defeated the Chicago Cubs 5-2, the Minnesota Twins blanked the Miami Marlins 3-0, the Cleveland Guardians pipped the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 and the Washington Nationals dominated the Cincinnati Reds 10-4.
The New York Yankees downed the Baltimore Orioles 6-2, the Philadelphia Phillies pulled down the Boston Red Sox 2-1, the Chicago White Sox outplayed the Kansas City Royals 6-5, the Milwaukee Brewers beat the San Diego Padres 6-4, the Texas Rangers shot down the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-4, the St Louis Cardinals overcame the Athletics 6-4 and the San Francisco Giants stomped the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2.
4\Additional reporting by staff writer
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