Paul Skenes threw eight brilliant innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates edged the Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0 on Wednesday night in Phoenix, with Brandon Lowe providing the lone run on a solo homer. The outing was described in the report as one of the best of the young star’s career; Skenes is the reigning National League Cy Young award winner.
Skenes retired the first 14 batters he faced before Lourdes Gurriel Jr. reached on a soft dribbler down the third-base line. Nolan Arenado followed with a line-drive single to left, and that was the final baserunner Skenes allowed. The right-hander struck out seven and fanned the last three batters he faced in the eighth inning.
He threw 97 pitches, including 65 strikes. Gregory Soto worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to earn his second save, per the report.
Per ESPN Research, Skenes is 3-0 with a 0.69 ERA in four career starts against the Diamondbacks and has three straight scoreless starts against them. The report says he is the first pitcher with three straight scoreless starts of six-plus innings against Arizona and the first Pirates pitcher with eight-or-more innings and two or fewer baserunners allowed since Doug Drabek in 1991.
Lowe’s homer to center was a towering 435-foot shot that bounced off the batter’s eye. Bryan Reynolds recorded his 1,000th career hit with a single in the third inning and finished with two hits and a stolen base, according to the report.
Arizona right-hander Michael Soroka (4-2) allowed several hard-hit balls early but settled in, going 6 1/3 innings with seven hits, two walks and six strikeouts. The report notes Skenes has never thrown a nine-inning complete game in his big league career; he threw 8 1/3 innings once in 2024 and an eight-inning complete game last season in a 1-0 loss to the Phillies. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
