MILWAUKEE -- Dominant against much of Major League Baseball this season, Pirates All-Star pitcher Paul Skenes struggled through another rough start on Tuesday night at American Family Field against the Majors’ hottest team.
The Brewers chased Skenes after four innings in the Bucs’ 14-0 loss, matching his shortest start of the season, which also came against Milwaukee on June 25. The big right-hander gave up four runs on six hits and two walks to go with four strikeouts, as the reigning National League Rookie of the Year threw 93 pitches in the abbreviated outing.
“They’re obviously hot right now,” Skenes said of the Brewers, who have won 11 straight. “I got in positions that weren’t very advantageous to me to where I had to be perfect, and I didn’t have my best stuff. I couldn’t really count on any singular pitch to be executed and get guys out.
“I had some 3-2 pitches that caught too much of the plate and didn’t execute two-strike pitches as well as I should have. They did a good job capitalizing on it.”
It was a frustrating night all around for the Pirates.
Center fielder Oneil Cruz was removed from the game in the sixth inning to be evaluated for a head injury. Cruz collided with Jack Suwinski while both players attempted to make a diving catch in the fourth. Manager Don Kelly had no further update on Cruz’s condition after the game.
Kelly was ejected by plate umpire Roberto Ortiz in the fifth inning for arguing after Suwinski was called out on strikes.
“I didn’t agree with the call and some other calls in the game up to that point, and it just got to the point that I’m going to have my guys’ backs,” Kelly said.
The Brewers got to Skenes right away. Sal Frelick led off the bottom of the first with a home run to right. It was the second career leadoff homer for Frelick and the first run surrendered by Skenes in the opening frame this season, ending the second-longest season-opening streak in MLB history at 24 games, per Elias Sports Bureau. The most consecutive starts to begin a season without allowing a first-inning run belongs to Bob Shawkey (27 for the 1923 Yankees).
Milwaukee added another run against Skenes in the third, when Frelick walked, then later scored on William Contreras' double.
Brice Turang belted a solo homer off Skenes with one out in the fourth to extend the Brewers’ lead to 3-0, marking only the third time in 48 career starts that Skenes has allowed multiple home runs, and the second time this season. The Cubs hit three off him on May 1.
Milwaukee added another run off Skenes in the fourth, when Joey Ortiz hit a bloop double and Frelick drove him in with a single.
In his previous start here on June 25, Skenes gave up four runs on four hits and two walks in four innings in a game that the Brewers won, 4-2. All of the runs off Skenes came in the second inning in a matchup against rookie sensation Jacob Misiorowski.
“They do have momentum and they’re going to put up good at-bats,” Kelly said of the red-hot Brewers. “For Paul today, the fastball was there, but it didn’t seem like he had full command of the offspeed and they got a hold of some fastballs.”
The Brewers put up eight runs against the Pirates’ bullpen in the fifth and sixth, with Christian Yelich and Andrew Vaughn belting homers. Infielder Jared Triolo, taking the mound for the first time in his career, pitched the eighth inning and gave up a two-run homer to Caleb Durbin.
“There’s a silver lining in that games like this are inevitable,” Skenes said. “We got it out of the way. On to the next one.”
The Pirates’ offense also struggled, managing just three hits in six innings against Brewers All-Star Freddy Peralta and four hits overall. Three pitchers finished off the shutout, including infielder Anthony Seigler, who threw a scoreless ninth.
“It was a lopsided [butt]-kicking. There’s no other way to put it,” Bucs third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa said. “We got blown out from the jump. It’s a tough loss.”
Kiner-Falefa said the loss is a “reality check” for the organization.
“These are good opportunities to go up against a team like this,” he said. “It just shows where we are. Not everything has gone our way this year. It’s all about how can you develop these guys at this point.”