Despite a dominant outing at Coors Field, Pittsburgh Pirates' ace Paul Skenes suffered a hard-luck defeat.
Paul Skenes just can’t win.
The right-hander made his third quality start in a row on Saturday night. Yet the Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the Colorado Rockies 2-1 at Coors Field in Denver.
The Pirates will try to avoid being swept in a three-game series by the team with the worst record in the major leagues on Sunday. Pittsburgh dropped below .500 at 38-39 with its 10th loss in 14 games.
Skenes allowed two runs and four hits in six innings, yet was the hard-luck loser as his record fell to 6-7 and his ERA rose one point to 2.86. The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner has gone seven starts since his last win on May 12 against the Rockies in Pittsburgh.
“It's a fickle game,” Skenes told reporters. “It's just how it is. You’ve got to look at what's real, what's not real. It’s just being objective. Feelings get in the way of winning. If you get emotional, you start trying harder to do stuff you don’t need to be doing when you’re in a game, and over the course of a season, too.”
Skenes has given up two runs in six innings in each of his last three starts following a four-game stretch in which he had a 4.95 ERA.
Fans continue to wonder why Skenes’ performance has declined this year. It might be more of a case of setting an incredible standard during the first two seasons of his career, notching a 1.96 ERA in 55 starts in a stretch that included Skenes winning the NL Rookie of the Year in 2024.
“It just speaks to the talent he’s got, and expectations that are a little bit elevated for him,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “And he set that bar with what he did the first two years. And there’s nobody who expects more out of Paul Skenes than Paul Skenes expects out of himself. And when we talk about his ‘down’ starts, they’re still pretty good.”
Skenes struck out eight, walked two, and hit two batters with pitches,
Many pitchers struggle in the thin air of Denver. However, pitching at elevation does not bother Skenes, especially after playing his first two collegiate seasons at the Air Force Academy in nearby Colorado Springs, Colo.
“I didn't want to throw the ball into the hitter's feet, but the ball just wanted to go there instead of the strike zone sometimes,” Skenes said. “Obviously hit a couple guys, walked a couple guys. Just the command overall wasn't great. Wasn't getting ahead of guys. You're going to have those outings. Just kind of throw everything out the window and figure out how to get outs.”
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