Paul Skenes struggles with walks, departs in fifth

The runs scored on solo homers. Skenes had 12 whiffs and struck out four before leaving with a one-run lead that was blown by Gregory Soto in the eighth. Still, it was a positive day for him. He needed just 82 pitches to get his 21 outs, and he walked only one. Skenes figures to make his next start Friday against the Royals, unless the Pirates find reason to be aggressive and start him Thursday versus the Brewers instead.

Skenes gave up four hits, walked one and struck out two. He improved to 10-11 with the win. Skenes bounced back nicely after allowing five runs against the Giants in his last start. He has a 3.83 ERA. Skenes is lined up to face the Cubs on the road next weekend.

All of the runs came in the second inning. Incredibly, the Pirates picked Skenes up, scoring nine times in the third to knock Logan Webb out of the game and take an 11-5 lead. Skenes, though, was lifted one out shy of qualifying for the win after allowing a single and a double in the fifth. Skenes’ bad inning was the product of a walk, three singles and a Rafael Devers homer. He finished with four strikeouts. It’ll be another outing in which his expected numbers weren’t as bad as his actual ones, but no one much wants to hear about that at this point. He’ll take a 3.97 ERA into Sunday’s start against the Angels.

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.

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.

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.

Once again, Skenes was simply not sharp here. His command was a mess as he walked four batters for the second straight start. Those woes were most apparent with his fastball. He simply could not find the zone with it and missed too many of his spots by a wide margin. In turn, he threw his second-lowest rate of fastballs in any start this season. Yet, it was only the second time over the last two months where that pitch’s average velocity stretched back above 97 mph. It was also his first time in 10 starts where he threw multiple pitches above 98 mph. Is his arm tired? Are his mechanics out of whack because he’s trying to reach back and find more velocity? We simply don’t know, but this is more than just a poor stretch now. Skenes has a 6.14 ERA over his last seven starts and the Pirates are an unthinkable 3-12 in his last 15. He’s scheduled for a two-start week coming up against the Marlins and Red Sox as he desperately tries to get back on track.

Henry Davis isn’t catching Paul Skenes for the first time since last April. We’ll see if the change has an impact on Skenes from a performance standpoint, but the Pirates are going to keep rolling with Rodríguez behind the dish since he’s hitting .268/.380/.457 with six homers and six steals in 151 plate appearances since mid-May.

On the plus side for fantasy managers, Skenes punched out seven batters on the night while also issuing four free passes. The Reds got to him early and often in this one, scoring twice in the first before Skenes served up a solo shot to JJ Bleday in the third and a two-run bomb to Sal Stewart in the fourth. Skenes got 15 swings and misses on 100 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 28 percent. He’ll carry a 3.90 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and a 156/32 K/BB ratio (124 2/3 innings) into Wednesday’s
showdown against the Brewers in Milwaukee.

Skenes gave up six hits, walked two and struck out 11. He fell to 9-9 with the loss. Skenes kept the Cubs off the scoreboard for the first four innings before running into trouble. After getting the first out of the fifth inning, four consecutive Cubs hits led to three runs. In the sixth inning, Skenes again retired the first batter before allowing two baserunners to reach. At that point, he was removed. Both runners came around to score as the Cubs would add five runs to extend their lead to 8-0. Skenes saw his ERA bump up to 3.65. He’s lined up to face the Reds on the road next Thursday.