The Pirates were backed by a strong outing from Paul Skenes, an absurd performance by Billy Cook and another home run from Esmerlyn Valdez to drill the Guardians 7-1 and take a series road win. Skenes went seven strong innings with eight strikeouts and helped the bullpen out with his efficient, longer outing. Billy Cook went 3-for-4 with a triple, two RBIs and an outfield assist that kept the game tied early. Jim and Nathan broke it all down on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti Bros. You can watch or listen here:

Here’s my three takeaways from this nice win…

Have a Game, Billy Cook!

He’s not just the official team cone hoister anymore! Billy Cook got the rare start and he showed out to provide some offense AND defense behind Paul Skenes in a cruising 7-1 victory. This was just Cook’s 10th start of the season. I’ll be honest, I kinda forgot he was still on the team. Here’s all Cook did in Sunday’s win:

Three hits
Two runs scored
Two RBIs
Stolen base
Triple
Outfield assist to nail the runner from scoring at home

Cook’s WPA (Win Probability Added) was +0.32 which is an absurd amount for a hitter in one game. For reference, Skenes WPA was +0.24. This was also Cook’s first two RBIs of the season. The defensive play in the bottom of the 4th inning was huge. Skenes walked Chase DeLauter to start the inning and Brayan Rocchio singled to make it runners at the corners with no outs. Kyle Manzardo hit a fly ball to Cook in center and he just kept coming in making it a questionable send by the Guardians. Cook caught and fired home to Henry Davis to nail DeLauter who decided not to slide. Double play and changed the complexion of the inning. Skenes then struck out Kahlil Watson for the third out and kept the game tied 1-1. Cook was up to lead off the very next inning and tripled to right field and was basically a foot from a home run. He scored to make it 2-1. The next inning Cook was up with a man on and he singled in Jacob Gonzalez to make it 4-1. He previously had singled in a run in the 2nd inning. Billy Cook, cone hoister and game taketh over guy.

Skenes Strong

Paul Skenes went seven strong innings Sunday to notch his 9th win of 2026. This was his first start where he went seven or more innings since May 12. This outing looked more like the Paul Skenes we know. He started off strong, average 97 mph and was one of his more efficient starts of the season. He struck out eight and had 15 whiffs on his four seamer. And he didn’t seem to tire out like we saw in a couple of his starts this season where he would labor to get through five. He also finally received some luck when the Guardians were making outs on the basepaths all day like Cook’s huge outfield assist in the 4th inning.

Don’t look now, but after losing nine straight Skenes starts, the Pirates have suddenly won three straight of his starts. This is what the Pirates need if they’re going to stack wins, pass the Cardinals and other teams in the standings and actually compete for a wildcard spot this second half. You just have to take advantage of Paul’s starts.

No more Montgomery Opener

Yesterday the Pirates went with a bullpen game in game 2 of the doubleheader and they fired up Mason Montgomery to open for Khristian Curtis who made his MLB debut. It worked until the end of the game when the Pirates were scrambling to find anyone out of the pen to hold a 3-0 lead. Eisert, Soto and Santana ended up giving up five runs and the Pirates lost. Sunday with the Pirates leading and Skenes exiting after seven innings, Montgomery came out to pitch the 8th inning. He struck out the first two batters he saw and then got Steven Kwan to ground out for the final out. Pirates were up 5-1 at the time, but it was a statement for him to come first out of the pen and put up a 1-2-3 zero. I like the idea of the opener, I really do and for the most part it’s worked fine for the Pirates this season, but with the way this bullpen is so poorly constructed, you can’t have one of your better high-leverage guys opening. We need Mason to pitch late in games when the Pirates are tied or winning a close game. We fought this with Carmen Mlodzinski when they had him piggyback in games where they were down 5 runs or up 10. They’ve been getting better as to when to throw Mlodzinski, but now you have to keep Mason for later. He’s too valuable to open the game in my opinion. You have to prioritize when you pitch these two because you don’t have many good options in the pen. So until you add some relief arms at the trade deadline, Montgomery shouldn’t open again.