Pirates' Paul Skenes Carves Up Phillies Once Again

The Pirates offense gave Skenes a slight 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, but struggled throughout against Phillies left-handed starting pitcher Cristopher Sánchez, who retired 18 of the next 21 batters he faced from the end of second inning through the seventh inning with eight strikeouts.

Right-handed pitcher Braxton Ashcraft relieved Skenes in the top of the eighth inning and after walking Marsh, got Marchán out on a grounder.

The Pirates offense finally come through with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning off an RBI single from designated hitter Andrew McCutchen which scored center fielder Oneil Cruz.

Ashcraft faced a tough situation in the top of the ninth inning, after allowing a leadoff double to Phillies shortstop Trea Turner and intentionally walking designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, but got the game-ending double play from first baseman Alec Bohm, as the Pirates took the victory, 2-1.

Skenes still has a 4-6 record, as Ashcraft recorded his first MLB win, but loved watching him go out and get the victory in the end.

"It's pretty cool," Skenes said on Ashcraft. "I was watching from (the clubhouse). I wasn't really expecting him to go out for the ninth. Wasn't surprised necessarily or chocked but just shows that we believe in him as an organization, our coaches, obviously. But he's doing what he's supposed to do, what he can do and it's pretty cool."

Skenes also dominated in his last start vs. the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on May 18. He allowed just three hits, a walk and an earned run, while tying a season-high nine strikeouts over eight innings, but would suffer a 1-0 loss, as the Pirates scored no runs in Skenes' first ever complete game.

The record for Skenes isn't great thanks to a lack of run support from the Pirates offense. They have scored four runs or less in 11 of his 14 starts, and only scored 10 runs twice, with Skenes pitching in three games where the Pirates suffered a shutout.

Despite his record, he has all the other stats that put him in contention for his first National League Cy Young Award.

He is down to a 1.88 ERA over 91.0 innings pitched through 14 starts, 92 strikeouts to 20 walks, .173 opposing batting average, 0.84 WHIP, 9.10 K/9 and a 1.98 BB/9.

Skenes ranks amonst the best pitchers in baseball, including first in innings pitched, seocnd in opposing batting average, third in WHIP, sixth in ERA and ninth in strikeouts.

His innings pitched, strikeouts, ERA and 56 hits allowed through 14 starts is also the best in the modern era along with Justin Verlander in 2018, according to Alex Stumpf of MLB.com.

"Unbelievable," Pirates manager Don Kelly said on Skenes' performance. "What can you say? Just continued to fill up the strike zone. Elite stuff. Beginning, was really sharp. Kind of in the middle, looked like it got away from him and that's just what he's shown is that he's able to dial it back in and dominate the strike zone. He was unbelievable again today."

Much of Skenes' great pitching is due to hitters struggling to understand where his pitches are going, with 16 whiffs from the Phillies, but also thanks to the Pirates' great defense.

Along with the double play on the steal attempt, Pirates third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes made a sensational diving grab near the foul line from a Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos, robbing a potential extra base hit and a chance for the road team to take the lead.

"It was great," Skenes said on his defense. "I've got to buy them a bottle of wine or something like that for some of the plays they've made for me. Even going back to the last game I pitched, too. Just got to keep that going, really appreciate it."

That win for the Pirates also secured their first sweep of the season, their longest winning streak at three game, 4-2 on this recent homestand and 14-14 under Kelly since he took over on May 8.

Skenes has liked how the Pirates have played recently and wants them maintaining this momentum going forward.

"It definitely doesn't bring us down," Skenes said. "I think we've been playing pretty good ball for a little bit now and either haven't come out with (wins) or lost by a run or something like that in a few games. I've been happy with the baseball we've been playing. It's nice to finally get some wins out of it, too. It's easy to go on a losing streak, too, so we've just got to keep going."