The Chicago Cubs have already proven they aren't afraid of highly touted Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Paul Skenes.
Chicago knocked Skenes around for three runs and six hits in his major league debut, and the Cubs will get another shot at the 21-year-old right-hander when they continue a four-game series against the visiting Pirates on Friday.
Skenes (0-0, 6.75 ERA) struck out seven and walked two across four-plus innings on Saturday, when Pittsburgh coughed up a 6-1 lead before rallying from a two-run deficit in the fifth en route to a wild 10-9 home victory.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton believes Friday is as good a day as any for the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 draft to land his first big-league win.
"I think he'll learn from (Saturday's start) and be able to build off it," Shelton said. "But overall, the stuff is really good."
When Skenes first faced the Cubs, he took the mound for the middle game of a three-game set in which Chicago racked up 21 runs. Since then, the Cubs have scored just 11 times across four games, getting shut out twice.
Chicago fell 5-4 on Thursday in the opener of the current series. Although the Cubs couldn't pick up the win, they walked away feeling good about left fielder Ian Happ, who sat out the previous two games to mentally reset.
A career .247 hitter, Happ stood at just .219 with one homer and 13 RBIs through his first 39 games of the season. However, he cranked a solo shot on Thursday, and Cubs manager Craig Counsell hopes the time off continues to pay dividends.
"It's not a new strategy by any means," Counsell said of the mental break. "You see players and what's going on. ... There are guys that are just tired and just kind of need a physical refresh day. And then there is a struggling player, a player who's not performing the way he wants to, and there are different reasons that you give guys days off.
"In this case it was just, 'Sit back and watch and get a little perspective, and then regroup and go after it.'"
Like Happ, Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks (0-3, 10.04 ERA) will attempt to keep trending in the right direction.
Hendricks is scheduled to make his seventh start of the season on Friday. He was lit up for 28 runs in 21 innings across his first five outings, but he settled down with five innings of one-run ball against Pittsburgh on Sunday.
It resulted in a no-decision for the 34-year-old veteran, who is 9-13 with a 3.54 ERA in 30 career starts vs. the Pirates.
Pittsburgh infielder Nick Gonzales can extend his hitting streak to five games when he goes up against Hendricks and the Chicago pitching staff.
The 24-year-old rookie has hit safely in five of six starts since being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on May 10. He went deep in the win on Thursday.
"It's exciting," Gonzales said. "A testament to hard work, putting my faith in these guys and the hitting coaches and everyone. I've been working hard, and it's nice for it to show up."
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