Tim Benz: For Paul Skenes, 2 tasks are clear against Dodgers in start No. 5
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For Pittsburgh Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes, his two challenges are clear in advance of his fifth Major League start.
• Replicate what he has been doing on the road in a home game.
• Do it against one of the best lineups in baseball.
The fire-balling right-hander was solid in his first two home appearances. But in his first two road starts, Skenes has been the dominant force everybody was predicting after he was drafted first overall coming out of LSU last year.
In his two home outings thus far — two no-decisions in a win over the Chicago Cubs and a loss to the San Francisco Giants — Skenes has amassed four earned runs in 10-plus innings pitched (3.60 ERA) while yielding 16 base runners (1.50 WHIP) and totaling 10 strikeouts.
The two starts in Chicago and Detroit, though? Skenes won both games, racking up 20 strikeouts over 12 innings, allowing two earned runs and just five base runners for a 1.50 ERA and a 0.417 WHIP.
In short, Skenes has pitched his way through trouble fairly well in two home starts and has blown away hitters on the road. However, manager Derek Shelton isn’t seeing any throughline between Skenes’ performance at home versus on the road in a short sample size.
“I think you discount the first home start completely just because of the fact that it was the Major League debut,” Shelton said Tuesday. “But, overall, he’s continued to do exactly what we thought he was going to do, and he continues to impress.”
That said, Shelton really liked Skenes’ last road effort in Detroit.
“It (was) a split doubleheader. So you have to prepare yourself in a very strange way because of the fact you don’t know when the game is starting,” Shelton said of Skenes in Wednesday’s 10-2 win. “That’s something to navigate. Then, just the overall pitch mix. Being able to use his ‘splinker,’ the way he used it, that was an impressive thing.”
Paul Skenes ????⛽️ pic.twitter.com/iOfXDx48fp
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 29, 2024
Now the 22-year-old Californian needs to bottle that effort against Los Angeles’ vaunted lineup which features Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in the top 3 of the batting order.
“Three MVPs at the top of their lineup. It’s going to be cool to kind of see where we are at,” Skenes said. “Just got to execute against them. We’re going to have a good plan going in and just got to execute the plan, and hopefully, it’ll work out for the best.”
Whatever plan was in place for Jared Jones on Tuesday night would be a good place to start. He danced through the Dodgers’ lineup, posting his best start since early May. Skenes’ fellow rookie went six scoreless, allowing three hits, three walks and striking out six en route to a 1-0 win.
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For Shelton, it’s hard to hide his excitement in using the Dodgers as a measuring stick for how far along his top two arms are in their development.
“It’s the big leagues. You’re seeing one of the best teams in baseball,” Shelton said. “You just have to execute pitches. It’s really good for our young players to see a team of this caliber to realize how you have to go out and execute.”
Jones did that Tuesday under the pressure of outdueling Major League strikeout leader Tyler Glasnow in his return to PNC Park as a Dodger. Now, Skenes will look to do the same thing against James Paxton, who is 5-0 on the season.
It’s just a matter of bringing his dynamic roadshow in front of the home crowd.