Pirates Aren't Sweating Phillies Disaster

Pittsburgh has also suffered some difficult losses, including the sweep to the Phillies and also the St. Louis Cardinals at home, April 27-30.

Kelly noted that it was always going to be tough facing both National League Cy Young Award candidates in Cristopher Sánchez, who threw a complete game with a career-high 13 strikeouts on May 16, and Zack Wheeler, who struck out seven over seven innings on May 17.

He also pointed out that they've dealt with adversity before, sweeping the Reds after getting swept by the Cardinals, but that they need to do it once again and without a big presence in O'Hearn.

"I think we've faced adversity on different levels," Kelly said post game. "This may be a little different, but anytime you hit adversity like we did after the St. Louis sweep, it's hard. Everybody feels it. Fans feel it. Players feel it. Staff feels it.

"I think we've done a good job rebounding on a lot of different levels this year in the midst of adversity. This is a different type, especially losing [O'Hearn]. Like I said, there's opportunity for someone to step up and have some big at-bats for us."

Paul Skenes Not Worried About Rough Start

Paul Skenes had a strong beginning to his start vs. the Phillies on May 17, throwing four scoreless innings and striking out the side in the first inning.

He ended up struggling afterwards, giving up his first walk in more than a month and five total walks for five earned runs, tying his career-high in one start.

Skenes was honest postgame about not executing what he wanted to later on and credited the strong Phillies lineup for getting after him.

It was a rare outing for Skenes, who came off of back-to-back starts where he threw eight scoreless innings and allowed just two hits in each start, with 17 combined strikeouts.

Even with this loss, Skenes is still confident in the Pirates and that he credits the character his teammates have, which they've shown all year.

“I’m not worried about it," Skenes said. "It’s probably a good time for an off day, but I think we are in a good spot going into this next stretch. Not worried about how we will respond at all.”