Reds get rude awakening by Skenes' pitching, even on an off night

PITTSBURGH -- The last-place Pirates won't be playing in October, but top-end pitchers similar to Paul Skenes will be. If the Reds are going to contend down the stretch and reach the postseason, they'll need to find ways to beat pitchers like Skenes, even if he is a leading candidate for the National League Cy Young Award.

Skenes did his part to make it a flat night for Cincinnati during a 7-0 defeat at PNC Park on Thursday. The loss moved the Reds (60-56) back to 3 1/2 games behind the idle Mets for the final NL Wild Card spot.

It also showed just how much work remains for the Reds to get to play in October. Cincinnati has the third-toughest remaining schedule in baseball, based on opponents' winning percentage.

One piece of good news from the night is the Reds won't see Skenes again the rest of the four-game series.

“Every game down the stretch, these are all really important games that we need to win to get where we want to be," designated hitter Gavin Lux said. "Whether you’re facing [Skenes] or a guy getting called up from Triple-A, these are all kind of must-win games that we want to win down the stretch to be where we wanted to go. They’re all important.”

Skenes, 23, struck out eight with no walks over six scoreless innings to lower his Major League-leading ERA to 1.94. The Pittsburgh ace also gave up a career-high seven hits in his 47th big league start, which indicated that the Reds at least had opportunities.

However, no batter reached third base against Skenes -- or any Pirates pitcher -- all evening.

“He’s tough, man," Lux said. "He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball for a reason. We had some hits, but we really couldn’t string anything together. We didn’t get that one big hit. He did a good job of limiting damage."

The Reds missed an early opportunity to pounce on Skenes after back-to-back one-out singles to right field by Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz in the top of the first inning.

Austin Hays dueled Skenes for nine pitches, including four straight foul balls, but grounded to second base for an inning-ending double play.

“Hays had a really good at-bat, too," manager Terry Francona said. "He was fouling off some 100 mph pitches and give Skenes credit. He got a really good hitter out in a tough situation because that could have changed things.”

Skenes gave up a one-out double to Lux in the fourth inning, but he struck out Spencer Steer and Noelvi Marte to escape unscathed. TJ Friedl hit a two-out double, but was left stranded in the fifth inning.

Overall, Cincinnati went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight runners.

“I’d seen enough of him on TV to know you have your hands full. We knew that," Francona said of seeing Skenes pitch in person for the first time. "But I actually thought our guys did a pretty good job. We didn’t chase him around. By that, I mean we didn’t try to follow every pitch and got a little stubborn and had some hits. Like a really good pitcher, he made really good pitches when he needed to.”

Compounding the Reds' problems on Thursday was a labored performance on the mound by their starter, Brady Singer.

Singer lasted only 3 2/3 innings and allowed four runs, six hits and four walks with two strikeouts. It came on the heels of the right-hander's best start of 2025 on Friday vs. the Braves, when he gave up one run over a season-high 7 1/3 innings.

“Just really deep counts," Francona said. "It seemed like it was a battle for him the whole night to throw the ball where he wanted to.”

In the bottom of the first, Singer picked up two quick outs to open but struggled to complete the inning while making 36 pitches. No. 3 hitter Bryan Reynolds was in a 3-0 count when he hit a drive to the opposite way for a home run to left field. Singer followed that with three straight walks to load the bases to set up Jared Triolo, who hit a two-run single to left field to make it a 3-0 game.

Singer also gave up an RBI single to center field by Spencer Horwitz in the fourth inning. A two-out single by Reynolds finished his night, with 86 pitches in a short outing.

"I couldn’t get the command, too many walks and I couldn’t get them to chase out of the zone," Singer said. "I didn’t really have command in the zone, so [I] just kind of struggled all around.”