Paul Skenes pitched into the fourth inning for the first time this spring and evidently felt good with his execution in the Pirates' 9-5 win over the Orioles Thursday night at Ed Smith Stadium. 

Skenes was replaced after pitching to the first batter of the fourth inning and ended up allowing two earned runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts over three innings. He threw 38 of 63 pitches for strikes, used each pitch in his arsenal and was regularly in the upper 90s with his fastball, topping out at 100 to Adley Rutschman in the first inning. 

"That was the best I’ve felt all spring," Skenes said. "I thought I executed really well. I was happy with it.” 

One thing stood out to Skenes that made this particular outing better than the three innings he tossed against these same Orioles on Saturday. This time around, his fastball command was more on par with what he expects. 

"The body was more used to it, too," Skenes said. "Fastball command was the big one.” 

Skenes noticed improvement with the usage of his newly implemented cutter, too. He felt like he was able to throw it in the zone more, which is a promising sign considering he's still figuring out how to utilize it. It's a pitch Skenes said he wanted to add to his repertoire so he had a pitch that breaks in the lower 90s rather than just relying on his sweeper in the mid-80s and splinker in the mid-90s. 

“I didn’t have anything like that before and it was kind of like, ‘Well, I throw 100, why don’t I throw a 90 mile-an-hour slider basically? Why don’t I throw a breaking ball that’s around 90? Because I can,'" Skenes explained. "My sweeper was around 85 last year and so that’s part of it, but the sweeper is so big that if I don’t get any swings on the cutter, it’s still going to get me swings on the sweeper.” 

Another important element in this particular outing was Skenes getting the chance to throw to Endy Rodriguez for the first time in game action. Skenes said this might have been just the second time he's thrown to him, but he lauded Rodriguez for being a quick learner. Getting used to the catchers on the current roster will be a big thing for Skenes this spring after having thrown primarily to Yasmani Grandal in the big leagues last season. 

“That’s kind of a unique challenge we have this year. Last spring I was throwing to Henry (Davis) primarily and then got sent down to minor-league camp and I was throwing to Grant Koch. But I didn’t throw to Yaz until he was on a rehab assignment, so we built a pretty quick rapport over two rehab assignment games," Skenes said. "We had a period with Joey (Bart) and now we’re on to Endy. I threw a live to JD (Jason Delay), I’m assuming Henry is going to be in there, too. We’ve been having a lot of meetings with the pitching staff and the catchers, so we’re all getting on the same page basically. It’s been good with everyone, not just Endy.” 

While Skenes has plenty to feel good about, including the growth of his weapons and the relationships he's building within the catching group, his buildup is also in a much better spot than it was a year ago. 

“I had a three-month long spring training basically last year because it probably took about three months to get to where I am right now. It’s just quicker. That’s the only thing," Skenes said. "I’m super happy with it and my body is built up. It’s quicker once we’ve gotten to spring training. My build up is a little slower during the offseason, it’s just different more than anything.” 

A few other notes: 

• Rodriguez put together a 3-for-3 night at the plate, driving in a run with third-inning single to right field off of Nick Richmond. It was Rodriguez's first multi-hit showing of the spring, as he's now hitting .417 (5 for 12) with a home run, three RBIs, a double, three walks and zero strikeouts in six games. 

"For me, all hits matter. All games matter," Rodriguez said. "So, we are what we prepare. We're trying to get ready for the season."

• Isiah Kiner-Falefa added two hits and Liover Peguero hit his first home run of the spring off Luis Gonzalez in the eighth inning. 

• Peter Strzelecki, Colin Holderman, Kyle Nicolas and Isaac Mattson combined to allow one hit over four scoreless innings. Mattson walked a batter, Nicolas struck out two and Strzelecki and Holderman each added one strikeout.