Oftentimes, the best players rise up in the biggest moments and, while facing off against the defending World Series champion Dodgers tonight at Dodger Stadium, Paul Skenes delivered his best start of the season in the Pirates' 3-0 shutout win.
Pitching in front of close to 40 family and friends, Skenes worked 6 1/3 innings, gave up just five hits and struck out nine while throwing 108 pitches. He used seven different pitches to navigate a lineup that many consider one of the best in baseball.
On this night, Skenes didn't just work his way through the Dodgers lineup with ground balls and popups. While he did induce four and five, respectively, he went right after a lineup that includes three former MVPs -- Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani -- and currently leads the league in home runs (41).
And he did it with no fear:
Skenes admitted after this one that he felt like he executed his pitches better in this start than the previous two times he's faced the Dodgers. However, he didn't think everything was completely there. He thought the command of his fastball was off early on, but when he needed to go to a pitch, he was able to pull it together.
No at-bat showcased that more than his battle with Ohtani in the bottom of the fifth inning. All eyes were on the two superstars. Ohtani flew out to centerfield in his first at-bat and then reached on a fielder's choice in his second. During their third encounter, Ohtani got ahead of Skenes, 3-1.
"I made a couple really bad pitches -- that was kind of the at-bat I was referencing when I was all over the place," Skenes said. "Couple terrible, terrible pitches."
Take a look at the pitch map of that at-bat:
So, what goes through one's head when they are down 3-1 to one of the best hitters in the game?
"'What do I have to lose?” Let's see what we're made of, let's see how my stuff is, and if he's supposed to get out, he’ll get out," Skenes said.
Skenes came back with a splinker on the outside that Ohtani fouled off before going to a curveball that resulted in this swing:
And Skenes thought that was one of his worst at-bats of the night.
However, that 3-2 curveball was one of his best pitches of the night. He went to it 16 times after only throwing it 3.2% of the time this season. It drew a 40% whiff rate and was only put in play twice.
"He got a good feel for the curveball today, he knew how to use it situationally, and in counts, to work off the fastball and the sinker," Derek Shelton said. "He just did a really outstanding job executing."
Skenes also worked out of a few jams as he stranded Freeman at third in the fourth inning after a leadoff triple and then stranded Andy Pages at second in the fifth inning by striking out Ohtani. He didn't leave anything in the tank either. To set down some of the best hitters in the game, Skenes had to literally unleash his arsenal of devastating pitches that have helped him become one of the best in the game.
"This is where baseball gets really fun, I think, to find different ways to get them out," Skenes said. "Ohtani saw my pitches today. Freddie, I think, saw all my pitches today. And aside from today, they've all seen all my pitches. So it’s like, I'm not hiding anything from them, and they're not hiding anything from me. I've seen how they attacked me, and they've seen how I attack them. So that's what makes baseball really fun, is just kind of the cat and mouse game."
It was ultimately the type of performance that baseball fans have become accustomed to seeing from the reigning National League Rookie of the Year.
"You saw why Paul Skenes is who Paul Skenes is," Shelton said.
I thought Ke'Bryan Hayes put it best on this night when I asked him if anything Skenes does surprises him anymore.
Hayes' answer: "Not really."
He expanded. "I mean, sometimes when guys like Mookie, Shohei, seeing some of the swings they'll take, it's like 'Dang, they are human too,' type of thing. Those are some of the greatest hitters in the world and some of the swings they we're taking just shows how really nasty he is whenever he's dialed in. So, it's fun to watch him. A lot of us are glad we don't have to face him."
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
6:53 am - 04.26.2025LOS ANGELESSkenes' battle with Ohtani highlights shutout win
Oftentimes, the best players rise up in the biggest moments and, while facing off against the defending World Series champion Dodgers tonight at Dodger Stadium, Paul Skenes delivered his best start of the season in the Pirates' 3-0 shutout win.
Pitching in front of close to 40 family and friends, Skenes worked 6 1/3 innings, gave up just five hits and struck out nine while throwing 108 pitches. He used seven different pitches to navigate a lineup that many consider one of the best in baseball.
On this night, Skenes didn't just work his way through the Dodgers lineup with ground balls and popups. While he did induce four and five, respectively, he went right after a lineup that includes three former MVPs -- Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani -- and currently leads the league in home runs (41).
And he did it with no fear:
Skenes admitted after this one that he felt like he executed his pitches better in this start than the previous two times he's faced the Dodgers. However, he didn't think everything was completely there. He thought the command of his fastball was off early on, but when he needed to go to a pitch, he was able to pull it together.
No at-bat showcased that more than his battle with Ohtani in the bottom of the fifth inning. All eyes were on the two superstars. Ohtani flew out to centerfield in his first at-bat and then reached on a fielder's choice in his second. During their third encounter, Ohtani got ahead of Skenes, 3-1.
"I made a couple really bad pitches -- that was kind of the at-bat I was referencing when I was all over the place," Skenes said. "Couple terrible, terrible pitches."
Take a look at the pitch map of that at-bat:
So, what goes through one's head when they are down 3-1 to one of the best hitters in the game?
"'What do I have to lose?” Let's see what we're made of, let's see how my stuff is, and if he's supposed to get out, he’ll get out," Skenes said.
Skenes came back with a splinker on the outside that Ohtani fouled off before going to a curveball that resulted in this swing:
And Skenes thought that was one of his worst at-bats of the night.
However, that 3-2 curveball was one of his best pitches of the night. He went to it 16 times after only throwing it 3.2% of the time this season. It drew a 40% whiff rate and was only put in play twice.
"He got a good feel for the curveball today, he knew how to use it situationally, and in counts, to work off the fastball and the sinker," Derek Shelton said. "He just did a really outstanding job executing."
Skenes also worked out of a few jams as he stranded Freeman at third in the fourth inning after a leadoff triple and then stranded Andy Pages at second in the fifth inning by striking out Ohtani. He didn't leave anything in the tank either. To set down some of the best hitters in the game, Skenes had to literally unleash his arsenal of devastating pitches that have helped him become one of the best in the game.
"This is where baseball gets really fun, I think, to find different ways to get them out," Skenes said. "Ohtani saw my pitches today. Freddie, I think, saw all my pitches today. And aside from today, they've all seen all my pitches. So it’s like, I'm not hiding anything from them, and they're not hiding anything from me. I've seen how they attacked me, and they've seen how I attack them. So that's what makes baseball really fun, is just kind of the cat and mouse game."
It was ultimately the type of performance that baseball fans have become accustomed to seeing from the reigning National League Rookie of the Year.
"You saw why Paul Skenes is who Paul Skenes is," Shelton said.
I thought Ke'Bryan Hayes put it best on this night when I asked him if anything Skenes does surprises him anymore.
Hayes' answer: "Not really."
He expanded. "I mean, sometimes when guys like Mookie, Shohei, seeing some of the swings they'll take, it's like 'Dang, they are human too,' type of thing. Those are some of the greatest hitters in the world and some of the swings they we're taking just shows how really nasty he is whenever he's dialed in. So, it's fun to watch him. A lot of us are glad we don't have to face him."
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Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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