7-run inning propels Pirates, Paul Skenes to series win over Dodgers
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Once the Pittsburgh Pirates formalized who would be starting against the Dodgers in a three-game series this week at PNC Park, a collision course was set between two of the most dynamic young pitchers in baseball and Los Angeles’ heavyweight batting order.
With Wednesday’s 10-6 win in front of 28,716 fans, which followed a defeat of the Dodgers in Tuesday’s series opener, it has been the Pirates and their rookie phenoms, Jared Jones and Paul Skenes, who have come out on top.
Jones shut out the Dodgers over six innings in Tuesday’s win, with Skenes picking up the victory Wednesday, tossing five innings and allowing three runs on six hits.
Skenes (3-0, 3.00) struck out eight, walked one and threw 93 pitches in his fifth MLB start.
“Just one you had to compete,” Skenes said. “They’re a good team. Team win today, for sure. Just kind of had to grind through it a little bit.”
The Pirates (29-32) plated seven in the second inning and added insurance runs later, enough to quell an attempted Dodgers rally once Skenes exited.
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Nick Gonzales got things started by ripping a two-out, broken-bat double down the third-base line off Dodgers starter James Paxton, plating Edward Olivares, who walked, and Ke’Bryan Hayes.
With Olivares on first, Hayes hit a single into left field, only for Teoscar Hernandez to misplay it, putting runners at second and third with no outs for Gonzales.
From there, trouble continued to brew for Paxton, as Yasmani Grandal made it 3-0 with an RBI single into right field that scored Gonzales.
Jared Triolo followed with a single for the Pirates’ fourth consecutive hit, moving Grandal to second before a sacrifice bunt by Jack Suwinski finally gave the Dodgers their first out.
Andrew McCutchen then walked, loading the bases for Bryan Reynolds, who promptly hit a two-run single up the middle on Paxton’s first offering to hand the Pirates a 5-0 advantage.
Paxton struck out Connor Joe for the second out, but his misery continued when Olivares drove in McCutchen with a single, prompting Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts to remove him after only 1 2/3 innings.
The Pirates went up 7-0 before the Dodgers finally escaped the inning.
Skenes retired the Dodgers’ first three hitters — Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman — in order in the top of the first, striking out Ohtani on three straight fastballs.
Skenes and Ohtani met again in the third, and, on a full count, Ohtani crushed a 100.1 mph fastball over the center-field wall for a two-run homer, making the score 7-2.
“I like to call that big on big,” Skenes said. “I beat him a couple times earlier, and I think that was the right pitch to throw there. He’s just a pretty darn good player, so stuff like that’s going to happen. … Frankly, it’s why we play the game, for matchups like that. Not happy I gave it up, but it’s part of the game.”
Ohtani went 2 for 3 with a homer, single and strikeout in three at-bats vs. Skenes.
The Dodgers added another run in the fifth, when Andy Pages hit a solo shot.
Skenes had to put out a fire in the fifth after Pages’ homer, as Chris Taylor reached on an error by shortstop Gonzales, followed by singles from Ohtani and Will Smith.
But Skenes mitigated the damage, striking out Betts and Freeman before Hernandez grounded out with the bases loaded to end the frame.
“Good composure,” manager Derek Shelton said of Skenes’ fifth-inning recovery. “He’s going give up home runs, but when you have an error and you load the bases — and again, having to grind through this lineup — it’s not easy. There’s All-Stars throughout it. So very impressed with how composed he stayed.”
Skenes departed after five innings with the Pirates in front by five, with a sacrifice fly by Gonzales in the bottom of the fifth making the score 8-3.
But the Dodgers chipped away against the Pirates’ bullpen, scoring runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth against Carmen Mlodzinski, Aroldis Chapman and Hunter Stratton, respectively.
The Pirates led by three heading into the bottom of the seventh, but Gonzales and Hayes collected RBI singles against the Dodgers’ Ryan Yarbrough, providing some insurance.
With two outs, two men on and Ohtani batting in the eighth, Shelton inserted Colin Holderman in place of Stratton, who got Ohtani to fly out to the warning track in right field.
David Bednar then took the mound in the ninth and retired Los Angeles in order.