Pirates Series Takeaways: Top for a Reason, 2 Concerns
When a team only scores a combined five runs but still wins a three-game series, that can only mean one […] The post Pirates Series Takeaways: Top for a Reason, 2 Concerns appeared first on Pittsburgh Baseball Now.
Phot provided by Matt Lynch When a team only scores a combined five runs but still wins a three-game series, that can only mean one thing — good starting pitching. That was the case for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had some struggles offensively in their series win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The Pirates were on the wrong end of a 9-0 shutout in the first game of the series on Tuesday.
Pittsburgh won a 1-0 pitchers’ duel on Wednesday night and earned a 4-2 rubber match win on Thursday. After dropping the first game of the series, who better to have on the mound than the top two in the starting rotation? On Wednesday, it was Paul Skenes, who delivered one of the best starts of his career.
The reigning Cy Young winner completed eight innings for the fourth time in his career and blanked Arizona on two hits. The right-hander started strong and ended strong. He retired the first 14 batters he faced before Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
reached on an infield single. Nolan Arenado followed with a base hit to right, but Skenes retired the final 10 batters he faced, the last three of which came via strikeout. On Thursday, Mitch Keller had some shaky command and allowed two runs through the first two innings.