What's Happening? Pirates' Paul Skenes Battling First MLB Slump

Skenes went more than a month and five starts without issuing a walk and walked just seven batters in his previous nine starts before this slump.

He also allowed more than four hits just once in an outing in his first nine starts, which is resulting in longer innings and higher pitch counts.

Opposing hitters have also gotten a barrel on Skenes' higher velocity pitches like his four-seam fastball, sinker and splitter, which has resulted in most of the hits for them.

Skenes' BBE/Hits/Hard Contact Over Last Four Starts

He's also thrown 100+ pitches in his past two starts after doing that just once in his first 11 starts and

Skenes didn't get much help from his defense at times vs. the Astros, particularly Nick Gonzales' struggles at third base, but he also only had 52% of his at-bats with a first pitch strike.

This especially hurt him against his last batter, Astros right field Cam Smith, who Skenes fell behind 2-0 and gave up a single on a full count to score the third run for the Astros.

He hasn't gotten higher than 61% for his first pitch strikes in these last four starts, something Skenes noted after the defeat to the Astros.

“Yeah just got to get ahead," Skenes said. "There were a couple, that last at-bat obviously, Donnie comes out and I go 2-0. Just go to get ahead.”

How Skenes Can Turn it Around

Skenes had two poor outings before this slump, including allowing five earned runs on Opening Day vs. the New York Mets at Citi Field on March 26, that saw him not make it out of the first inning, and then giving up five runs in a 10-4 defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on April 30.

He bounced back both times, with just two earned runs allowed over the next four starts following the Mets' debacle and then two of his best starts of his career after the Cardinals loss.

Skenes threw eight scoreless innings, allowed just two hits in each starts and posted 17 strikeouts in a 1-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on May 6 and a 3-1 victory vs. the Colorado Rockies at PNC Park on May 12.

Those starts saw Skenes dominate both National League West teams, baffle them with his pitch mix, get easy strikeouts and keep his pitch count down to go deeper into games.

Skenes is still having a solid season, with a 3.09 ERA much higher than his normal sub-2.00 ERA, but posting a .198 batting average allowed (BAA) and a 0.91 WHIP, good for sixth-lowest and third-lowest, respectively, of any MLB qualified pitcher.

This slump isn't something Skenes is happy with of course, but he won't dwell on those starts.

Skenes will examine his pitch mix, figure out what's working and what's not and find ways to get ahead in counts, induce less hard contact and try to avoid long at-bats early on.

“I think it’s really easy to look at the box score," Skenes said postgame. "Last outing, three walks, couple runs, stuff like that. It’s really easy to look at the box score and think, ‘Dang, maybe I’m not throwing the ball super well’, and I think you have to take a step back and look at how you’re executing pitches. Obviously see what there is to do better. Same thing as every outing. Look at the pitches that you’re executing and look at it objectively.”