Diamondbacks Shut Down by Paul Skenes' 8-Inning Masterpiece

The D-backs' first hit didn't come until two outs in the bottom of the fifth, when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a dribbler to the left side that Skenes couldn't handle, throwing wide of first base. The official scorer in the Chase Field press box immediately ruled the play a base hit.

Nolan Arenado immediately made that decision a moot point, however, with a roped line drive base hit to left. But that would be all the D-backs got off of Skenes for the rest of the game.

Skenes only struck out four D-backs through the first seven innings, but completed his outing by striking out the side in the eighth. The D-backs were aggressive all game, trying to get to him early in counts.

All that amounted to were quick outs however, as there were 13 at bats of three pitches or less against Skenes, and two more in the ninth inning against Soto.

Pressed if he had any problem with the approaches, manager Torey Lovullo said, "Not really, because I know what the plan was. So that's where he beat us. I know what our plan was today. We followed the plan. But we got a little mixed up. Some guys were trying to dig in and get into deep counts. So the plan was to get going early, not let him get into some secondary stuff."

Geraldo Perdomo led off with a five-pitch at-bat, and Ketel Marte followed with a nine-pitch at-bat. But Corbin Carroll swung at the first pitch, albeit at a center-cut fastball, and flew out to end the first. From there Skenes needed just 82 more pitches to complete the next seven innings.

Skenes was asked after the game if it changes anything for him when he sees hitters trying to attack him early in counts. "It means I can go deep in games," he said with a slight chuckle. "They were taking their shots, and not too many of them landed."

After a slight pause he added: "That's an approach."

D-backs' Soroka goes toe-to-toe with Skenes

Soroka tried his best to match the Cy Young winner, throwing 6.1 excellent innings. The lone run against him came on a solo homer by Brandon Lowe in the first inning. The Pirates had runners on first and third with one out in the second, and were poised to score more.

A perfectly executed rundown on a ground ball to Ildemaro Vargas turned into a double play. It was scored a 3-2-5-6, as Henry Davis ran into an out at third to a heads-up Geraldo Perdomo.

Soroka himself went into cruise control from there, allowing just three harmless singles before being relieved by Kevin Ginkel with one out in the seventh. Soroka walked two and struck out six, and lowered his ERA to 4.14 despite taking the loss.

The D-backs' pen kept the game close, as Kevin Ginkel, Juan Morillo and Taylor Clarke finished off the final three innings without allowing a hit or a run.