Skenes dazzles in first inning, grinds through the rest to make it stand

Facing arguably the toughest lineup in all of baseball, things didn't come easy for Paul Skenes Wednesday night. 

He sure made it look easy right out of the gate, though, when he retired three former MVPs in order in the first inning. He struck out Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani before forcing Freddie Freeman to fly out to right, prompting a show of respect from the PNC Park crowd in the form of a loud ovation upon Skenes' walk back to the dugout. 

"I think the one thing we're learning about him is he's not afraid to go after people," Derek Shelton said following the Pirates' 10-6 win over the Dodgers Wednesday at PNC Park. "He went right after a really good lineup. The top three guys all have MVP trophies."

Skenes looked ready from the get-go against the three most feared hitters in Los Angeles' order. He needed just four pitches, including two clocked at 101 and another at 100, to retire Betts swinging for the first out. He then got three swinging strikes against Ohtani -- all three of which came on triple-digit fastballs -- and then finally got Freeman to fly out on his sixth pitch of the inning that hit 101. In total, Skenes threw 12 first-inning pitches, nine of which hit triple digits and six that hit 101: 

“It was cool," Skenes said. "It’s always nice to settle into a game like that.” 

But it wasn't all a breeze for last year's No. 1 overall pick. Despite two clean innings to start, Skenes gave up a pair of long balls, including this two-run shot to Ohtani on a 100 mph four-seam fastball left up in the zone in the third inning: 

“Yeah, I like to call that big on big because I obviously beat him a couple times earlier," Skenes said with a smile. "I think that was the right pitch to throw there, he’s just a pretty darn good player. Stuff like that is going to happen.” 

The other blemish on Skenes' line came on a solo homer to Andy Pages in the fifth: 

With a fastball that averaged 99.5 mph and topped out at 101.3 leading a balanced arsenal that included a decent dose of splinkers (19) and sliders (13), Skenes managed to work his way through five innings, allowing three runs on six hits with a walk and eight strikeouts to come away with a victory and improve to 3-0 in his fifth career start. 

“Just one you had to compete," Skenes said. "They’re a good team. Team win today, for sure. Just kind of had to grind through it a little bit.” 

Skenes, who ended up throwing 61 of 93 pitches for strikes as well as 18 fastballs that hit triple digits, left a runner stranded on third in the fourth before facing his biggest challenge in the fifth. Pages led off the inning with his homer before Chris Taylor reached on an error and Ohtani and Will Smith each reached on singles to load the bases with two outs. In the face of potential game-changing inning, Skenes didn't waver. He maintained his stoic demeanor, stayed composed and pitched his way out of trouble, inducing an inning-ending fielder's choice to cap the gritty outing: 

"He's gonna give up home runs, but when you have an error and you load the bases, and again, having to grind through this lineup, it's not easy," Shelton said. "There's All-Stars throughout it. So very impressed with how composed he stayed."

For Skenes, the fifth inning was indicative of how the entire outing went. He had good moments, including that 1-2-3 first against three of the most talented hitters in baseball, and had to battle through some adversity to come away with a more than serviceable outing. 

"As we've talked about, there's different steps in terms of maturation guys are going to have to take," Shelton said. "When you have an inning like that where you have to get through that part of the order, you have to overcome a misplay, I think it's really important. It's not going to be like it was in the first and he gets some punchouts. It was fun to watch him get through that."

Through five major-league starts, Skenes has allowed nine earned runs with six walks and 38 strikeouts in 27 innings. He's looked sharp in each of those performances and has shown he belongs on a major-league roster. 

He said he's been able to see why big-league hitters are big-league hitters and has learned there really isn't a book that can be read on what a major-league pitcher has to do to succeed at the top level. 

"We're kind of writing as we go along," Skenes said. "So, how to throw my pitches, where to throw my pitches, when to throw my pitches, that kind of thing. We're just learning as we go along and reading hitters."

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