Paul Skenes dazzles again, Pirates plate a pair in the 9th to top Cardinals

Paul Skenes has yet to taste defeat in his young MLB career, and the St. Louis Cardinals weren’t about to change that Tuesday night.

In his sixth MLB start, Skenes set new career-highs in pitches (103) and innings pitched (6⅓), dueling Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas while taking a no-decision in a 2-1 Pirates win.

Connor Joe and Oneil Cruz collected RBIs in the top of the ninth inning to break up a scoreless affair and lift the Pirates (32-34) to victory in their first meeting of the year with their NL Central foe Cardinals.

David Bednar recovered from allowing a leadoff homer to Nolan Gorman in the bottom of the ninth to notch his 14th save of the year.

A successful St. Louis challenge overturned a call that ended the game, with Ivan Herrera reaching first base on catcher’s interference by Yasmani Grandal instead of striking out on a foul tip.

But Bednar then struck out Michael Siani to end things officially.

The Pirates loaded the bases in the top of the ninth with Ryan Helsley on the mound.

Jack Suwinski and Bryan Reynolds drew walks, with Andrew McCutchen singling.

Joe then ripped a one-hop rocket at shortstop Masyn Winn, who stopped the ball but was unsuccessful in his throw to home plate, giving Joe an RBI fielder’s choice and the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

With the bases still loaded, Cruz battled back from an 0-2 count to lift a sacrifice fly into left field, putting Pittsburgh up 2-0.

Mikolas, who was one strike away from a no-hitter against the Pirates on June 14, 2022, took a perfect game into the sixth inning and no-hitter until the start of the seventh.

Finding no luck against Mikolas for the game’s first six innings, the Pirates looked to be in business in the top of the seventh, when Reynolds led off with a triple off the center field wall for his club’s first hit.

Mikolas then beaned Joe in the helmet, putting men on first and third with no outs.

But Cruz struck out looking and Ke’Bryan Hayes lined out to Nolan Arenado, who tagged third base to double up Reynolds.

In the eighth, Nick Gonzales led off with a double off St. Louis reliever JoJo Romero but was tagged out at third on a failed bunt attempt by Michael A. Taylor, with Grandal hitting into an inning-ending double play soon thereafter.

Both Skenes and Mikolas struck out three and allowed zero baserunners through three innings.

Grandal’s walk with one out in the sixth gave the Pirates their first man aboard.

The Cardinals broke the stalemate in the bottom of the fourth when Alec Burleson hit a one-out single to center field that just eluded the glove of a diving Suwinski.

Skenes promptly stranded Burleson, striking out Paul Goldschmidt and retiring Gorman on a weak groundout to end the inning.

Trouble appeared to be brewing for Skenes in the bottom of the fifth when he faced runners on first and third with no outs following singles by Arenado and Brendan Donovan.

But Skenes put out the fire, striking out Matt Carpenter and Pedro Pages before Siani grounded out for the inning’s final out.

Skenes allowed a single to Burleson in the sixth, but with his pitch count rising over 90, he got out of the frame when Goldschmidt hit into a double play.

Surprisingly, manager Derek Shelton stuck with Skenes to begin the seventh, even with him at 94 pitches.

After striking out Gorman, Skenes allowed a double to Arenado, with Shelton opting to insert Aroldis Chapman to record the inning’s last two outs.

Colin Holderman pitched the bottom of the eighth and avoided any damage after allowing a pair of two-out singles.

Holderman (2-0, 0.79 ERA) was the winning pitcher Tuesday.