Pirates go Jones, Ashcraft, Skenes out of break

Skenes was brilliant on Tuesday in San Diego, holding the Padres scoreless over six innings. He scattered just three hits and did not walk a batter while striking out four. He’d depart with the game still scoreless after six in what was a pitcher’s duel. It was Skenes’ first scoreless outing since May 12. The 24-year-old right-hander will take a 3.79 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and a 175/41 K/BB ratio across 145 innings into a start against the Giants in Pittsburgh next Tuesday.

Ashcraft appeared to get through six scoreless, only to lose the shutout on a balk. He then left with a one-run lead that failed to hold up. It’s unclear how many more starts Ashcraft, who has now thrown 39 more innings than his previous career high, will make with the Pirates nearly out of contention at this point, but he’s still thriving, having allowed exactly one run in three straight starts. He’s in line to face the Cardinals on Sunday, but the Pirates have Thursday and Monday off if they want to give him some extra time.

Jones held the Dodgers scoreless through three innings before things got away from him a bit in the fourth. Los Angeles brought a pair of runs in on three hits and a walk. Jones would get out of the inning with the bases loaded. His day would be done after four frames at 87 pitches. He struck out five. The 25-year-old right-hander will take a 4.76 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and a 77/26 K/BB ratio across 68 innings into a start against the Cardinals in St. Louis on Friday.

Skenes allowed one run through four before giving up double and a walk to start the fifth. It was surprising he wasn’t pulled at that point, but he stayed in to strike out Colt Keith before giving up an RBI single to Gleyber Torres. Skenes departed then and Gregory Soto allowed one of the two inherited runners to score before finishing the inning. After coming in at just 95.7 mph last time out and getting a couple of extra days off this week, Skenes was back up to 96.8 mph on average with his fastball today. Four of his five strikeouts came on the pitch. He allowed just two hard-hit balls in the game, and one of those turned into a double play. The walks are really annoying, but the outing was still more promising than the line suggests. He’s due to face the Padres next week.

Ashcraft gave up five hits, walked none and struck out four. He improved to 13-5 with the win. Ashcraft allowed a solo home run to Brett Callahan in the fifth inning, but otherwise held the Tigers scoreless over eight innings. He’s allowed two earned runs in 17 innings with 14 strikeouts and one walk over his last two starts. Ashcraft has a 3.68 ERA. He’s lined up to face the Padres on the road next Monday.

Jones gave up four hits, walked two and struck out seven. He fell to 2-5 with the loss. Jones bounced back with a solid effort after allowing eight earned runs in his last start. Still, it wasn’t enough to beat the Red Sox with Sonny Gray pitching lights out. Jones has a 4.78 ERA in 14 starts. He’s lined up to face the Dodgers on the road next weekend.

Skenes’ fastball last time out averaged 95.7 mph, down 1.2 mph from his season average, and he was pulled after just 65 pitches against the Marlins. There’s no injury being disclosed, but obviously something isn’t quite right. “Everyone is dealing with stuff this year,” Kelly said. “But he’s given us no indication that it’s injury related.” The Pirates will have Lake Backar open in Skenes’ place.

It was a shutout until the ninth, when Owen Caissie hit one out to cut the lead to 13-1. Ashcraft had allowed 21 runs in his last five starts entering today, along with seven homers, so this qualifies as a bit of a course correction. Ashcraft generated a 30 percent whiff rate on 33 swings, with both the curveball and slider drawing misses while he touched 99.2 mph on the gun with his fastball. Ashcraft draws the Tigers in his next start, hopefully he can keep this form going.

Nothing was said about Skenes’ status immediately after the game, but his velocity was down some tonight and he departed after just 65 pitches. That turned out to be a good call by the Pirates, as Yohan Ramírez pitched three hitless innings with five strikeouts after taking over. Skenes struck out four while averaging 95.7 mph with his fastball. Even his hardest heater of the night, at 96.5 mph, fell shy of his season average of 96.9 mph. He allowed just the one earned run on Esteury Ruiz’s homer, but he gave up eight hard-hit balls, including a potential second homer from Griffin Conine that was brought back by Bryan Reynolds in left field. Skenes fell to 9-11 with a 3.88 ERA. He’s due to face the Red Sox on Sunday.

Jones struck out three while his 2026 ERA spiked to 5.03. The eight earned runs are the most he’s ever given up in a big-league start. He departed with the bases loaded and no outs in the fourth, and all three inherited runs came around to score on a Bo Bichette double. Jones’ afternoon got off to a rough start in the first inning and never recovered. He draws the red-hot Red Sox at home next time out.