Paul Skenes delivers a pitch to Cam Smith in Tuesday night's game at PNC Park.
Paul Skenes outmatched Lance McCullers Jr. in a pitchers' duel tonight at PNC Park. A lack of offensive support led to a losing decision, though, as the Pirates suffered their major-league-leading 10th shutout loss, 3-0, to the Astros.
Skenes allowed only a solo home run to ChristianWalker in the seventh inning, plus two other hits in eight sensational innings. He walked one, struck out eight and threw 68 of 99 pitches for strikes en route to his 10th quality start. The Astros scored their other two runs when IsaacParedes hit a two-run homer off Dennis Santana in the ninth.
The Pirates were limited to four hits and failed to produce a run for the fifth time in the last month. McCullers allowed two hits and struck out seven over six scoreless innings. AlexanderCanario broke up the no-hit bid with a fourth-inning single and Isiah Kiner-Falefa extended his hit streak to six games with singles in the fifth and eighth. NickGonzales added an infield single off reliever ShawnDubin in the seventh.
"It was tough tonight against McCullers. As we saw on the road trip, had some flashes there of some really good at-bats and put some runs on the board. We just need to continue to dive into that, continue to dive into that work that led to those runs," DonKelly said. "I think where it does get frustrating is Paul puts up a great start and we don't score any runs there, and I think that it's something everybody feels. I just don't want to overreact to it. Yes, it's a big deal, we need to be better, but we did a really good job on the road trip to find ways to piece some together and score some runs and get back to doing that tomorrow."
• Lost 4 of the past 8 home games • Lost 23 of 34 dating to April 26 • 10-13 since Kelly became manager
► THE NUMBER
3: Total pitchers in major-league history, including Skenes, who've taken two losses in the same season when pitching eight-plus innings, allowing one or no runs, allowing three or fewer hits, walking one or no batters, and striking out eight-plus. The other two are Mike Scott (1986) and Ed Walsh (1910)
► THE NEXT THREE
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THE ASYLUM
José Negron
1:36 pm - 06.02.2025North ShoreAstros 3, Pirates 0: That's a 10th shutout loss
JUSTIN K. ALLER / GETTY
Paul Skenes delivers a pitch to Cam Smith in Tuesday night's game at PNC Park.
Paul Skenes outmatched Lance McCullers Jr. in a pitchers' duel tonight at PNC Park. A lack of offensive support led to a losing decision, though, as the Pirates suffered their major-league-leading 10th shutout loss, 3-0, to the Astros.
Skenes allowed only a solo home run to Christian Walker in the seventh inning, plus two other hits in eight sensational innings. He walked one, struck out eight and threw 68 of 99 pitches for strikes en route to his 10th quality start. The Astros scored their other two runs when Isaac Paredes hit a two-run homer off Dennis Santana in the ninth.
The Pirates were limited to four hits and failed to produce a run for the fifth time in the last month. McCullers allowed two hits and struck out seven over six scoreless innings. Alexander Canario broke up the no-hit bid with a fourth-inning single and Isiah Kiner-Falefa extended his hit streak to six games with singles in the fifth and eighth. Nick Gonzales added an infield single off reliever Shawn Dubin in the seventh.
"It was tough tonight against McCullers. As we saw on the road trip, had some flashes there of some really good at-bats and put some runs on the board. We just need to continue to dive into that, continue to dive into that work that led to those runs," Don Kelly said. "I think where it does get frustrating is Paul puts up a great start and we don't score any runs there, and I think that it's something everybody feels. I just don't want to overreact to it. Yes, it's a big deal, we need to be better, but we did a really good job on the road trip to find ways to piece some together and score some runs and get back to doing that tomorrow."
► THE COVERAGE
From our staff on the scene:
• Going Deep: Kiner-Falefa vs. PNC Park?
• Extra Bases: Skenes dazzles to no avail
• News: Gonzales returns, Nicolas up
• Minors: Sanford promoted to Bradenton
► THE HIGHLIGHTS
► MORE POSTGAME VIDEO
• Manager: Kelly's press conference
• Players: Inside the clubhouse
► THE BOXSCORE
► MORE GAME DATA
• Hitter breakdowns
• Pitcher breakdowns
• Updated statistics
• Season schedule
► THE STANDINGS
► THE TRENDS
• Lost 4 of the past 8 home games
• Lost 23 of 34 dating to April 26
• 10-13 since Kelly became manager
► THE NUMBER
3: Total pitchers in major-league history, including Skenes, who've taken two losses in the same season when pitching eight-plus innings, allowing one or no runs, allowing three or fewer hits, walking one or no batters, and striking out eight-plus. The other two are Mike Scott (1986) and Ed Walsh (1910)
► THE NEXT THREE
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