Cubs pounce on Skenes for 3 homers as lineup keeps flexing might

PITTSBURGH – Pirates phenom Paul Skenes has quickly captured the attention of baseball fans across the world over the past two seasons, with many tuning in every time he toes the rubber. And rightfully so, he’s that good. So when the Cubs’ offense tagged the hard-throwing righty for a career-high three home runs in Thursday’s 8-3 victory, it marked a significant feat.

In the rubber match of the three-game series against the Pirates at PNC Park, Chicago showed it’s home to one of the most potent lineups across Major League Baseball.

After having nothing to show for multiple hard-hit balls and four walks against Skenes through the first four innings, the Cubs finally broke through in the fifth. And they did so in a big way. Chicago pushed ahead of Pittsburgh with three swings of the bat, forcing Skenes out of the game after just five innings for the first time this season, all while limiting him to just a pair of strikeouts, the lowest output of his career.

Dansby Swanson, coming off his first three-hit game of the season in Wednesday night’s loss, got the attack started by driving a Skenes splitter into the center-field seats on the first at-bat of the inning. Then, with two outs, Kyle Tucker, on a four-seamer, and Seiya Suzuki, on a 3-0 splitter, delivered back-to-back home runs to tie and take the lead. The occasion marked the first time Skenes has allowed three home runs in a game during his young career, let alone in a single inning.

Two innings later, batting against Kyle Nicolas, Suzuki kept the momentum going by driving a hanging slider 400 feet into the left-field seats for a two-run blast, marking his second home run of the game and the fifth multihomer game of his career, to give Chicago some needed insurance.

“He’s a strong man,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s got a beautiful swing and he’s a strong man. That’s it.”

Suzuki went 5-for-12 in the series against Pittsburgh with three home runs and five RBIs, pushing his OPS to .990 on the season, the fifth highest in MLB. Suzuki believes he’s taken huge strides since entering the league in 2022.

“I think being around a lot of guys who are really strong, I wanted to up my game,” Suzuki said, through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “So, I’ve incorporated a lot of things to get there. I would say, compared to when I was in Japan, [I am stronger.]”

“I mean, I think he’s just got a lot of confidence right now,” Counsell added. “I think [with any hitter], you put them in a good streak and [they have] confidence, and you get a mistake when you’re aggressive and you're putting good swings on the baseball. He had a really nice day, the second homer was a big one.”

While the first four innings were frustrating due to missed opportunities, Counsell believes the three walks the team drew in the third inning were a sign of good things to come.

“It’s just, you’re not chasing, and [Skenes] has got to figure out something else to do,” Counsell said. “He definitely went to off-speed [pitches] more today, and we did a really nice job of not swinging. You get the hard throwers, and you think you have to cheat to the fastball and we still laid off the off-speed. … It makes him come in the zone, makes him be a little less fine, maybe, and then you get something over the middle of the plate.”

The Cubs finished April with a franchise-record six players hitting five or more home runs. The team let some opportunities to drive runners in slip past them in Wednesday night’s loss, but quickly responded in a big way Thursday.

“I thought the whole game we did an excellent job against Skenes,” Counsell said. “We were patient, we took good at-bats, we hit the ball hard. Frustrating first four innings. A little assist from [hitting coach Dustin Kelly getting ejected in the fifth], getting everybody fired up. Maybe the things we did earlier helped us wear ‘em out a little bit later.”

At times overlooked by the titans of the Yankees and Dodgers, while still early, Chicago’s offense has certainly earned the right to be spoken about in the same regard.