Pirates erupt for 10 runs, reward dominant Paul Skenes with 1st win since April 25
Pulling off an epic comeback late Tuesday night set up the Pittsburgh Pirates for a series victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon.
Paul Skenes was the man entrusted to facilitate that result at Chase Field, with Skenes riding a streak of four consecutive quality starts, (none of which the Pirates were able to turn into wins for him.
Facing off against Zac Gallen, the Pirates enjoyed another offensive eruption, providing Skenes with plenty of run support in a 10-1 win.
Skenes (4-5, 2.15 ERA) picked up his first victory since April 25, pitching 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only four hits.
“Execution was good. I got ahead of guys and was able to put them away and make pitches when I needed to,” Skenes said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “(Catcher) Henry (Davis) called a great game, too. It was fun.”
Skenes walked none and struck out seven when manager Don Kelly opted to end his afternoon at 96 pitches (67 strikes) with two outs and no men on in the seventh.
The 19 combined runs Tuesday and Wednesday against Arizona are the most by the Pirates in back-to-back games this season.
“That was fun, wasn’t it? Paul did an outstanding job,” Kelly said. “Offense came alive, carried it over from last night. Just a lot of good things all around, good defense, pitching, baserunning, hitting, solid team win.”
The Pirates (21-36) took an early 1-0 lead in the second when Davis connected on a Gallen knuckle curve for an RBI single to score Alexander Canario from third.
Canario led off with a walk and advanced to third on a Spencer Horwitz single.
In the third, Corbin Carroll roped a two-out ground-rule double, but Skenes got Lourdes Gurriel swinging to end the threat.
The Pirates loaded the bases off Gallen in the fifth, which brought Oneil Cruz to the plate.
Battling into a 3-2 count, Cruz grounded a ball to Jordan Lawler at second base. But Lawler committed his second error of the day, making an errant throw to second base.
Two runners, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, scored as a result of the fielder’s choice and error, making it 3-0 Pirates. Cruz was credited with one RBI.
Hayes gotn aboard with a single, and Kiner-Falefa walked before Jared Triolo’s single loaded things up for Cruz.
Gallen escaped the inning without allowing more damage.
After Skenes delivered a scoreless fifth, Gallen ran into more trouble in the sixth, as the Pirates went up 4-0, leading to his removal with zero outs in an eventual five-run frame for the visitors.
Horwitz drew a leadoff walk and moved to third on Davis’ second single of the day.
Hayes then snapped an 0-for-21 streak with an RBI base hit, plating Horwitz before Gallen was replaced by Juan Morillo.
Morillo couldn’t extinguish the fire. On his first offering to Kiner-Falefa, the Pirates shortstop bounced a two-run double down the first-base line to make it 6-0.
That closed the book on Gallen (3-7, 5.54 ERA), who allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits, taking the loss.
“I think when you look at it, it hasn’t been the big home run,” Kelly said of the Pirates’ offensive output lately. “We’ve gotten guys on base. We got in the gap today … it’s just mixing in those hits. It doesn’t have to be a big home run that gets it done. It can be that base hit to right-center, left-center.
“Stay within yourself. You had a lot of that today, guys just passing the baton and keeping the line moving.”
On Tuesday, Kiner-Falefa had sent a bases-clearing double down the third-base line, tying the score in the eighth inning as part of the Pirates’ nine-run comeback from a 6-0 deficit.
The Pirates kept piling it on with Kiner-Falefa coming around on an RBI groundout by Andrew McCutchen, creating a 7-0 advantage.
Shortly thereafter, it was 8-0, as Bryan Reynolds hit a triple into right field that Carroll misplayed, allowing Triolo to score.
Caleb Ferguson took over for Skenes and completed the seventh.
“Glad we were able to keep the ball rolling and win the series,” Skenes said. “Just got to keep the momentum going.”
In the eighth, Cruz jacked his 12th homer of the year, a two-run shot that scored Kiner-Falefa, who hit a ground-rule double, to go up 10-0.
The Pirates’ shutout bid ended in the bottom of the ninth when Ryan Borucki allowed a solo homer to Tim Tawa.