The Pirates lost yet another Paul Skenes start in a 6-4 loss to the Reds to open the weekend series. Konnor Griffin returned and gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead with his 5th home run of the season, but Skenes gave up four straight hits to start the 2nd inning and walked two. Skenes settled in and made it five innings, but gave up four earned in that 2nd inning. The Pirates rallied back thanks to some power and tied the game 4-4, but Mason Montgomery served up the go-ahead two-run home run from Noelvi Marte in the 8th inning which was the difference in the game. Jim and Tyler recap this loss on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti’s Bros. You can watch/listen here:

Here’s my 3 takeaways from this one…

What’s Wrong with Paul Skenes?

I tweeted on June 4 and asked an absurd question considering the player in question was the 24-year-old reigning Cy Young winner, but that question was—Is it possible that Skenes could be suffering from a dead arm? He threw 187.2 innings last season then ramped up early in spring by pitching for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic and then he’s thrown 93 innings this season and he’s struggled to be efficient and go deep into games after the two eight-inning performances he had on May 6 and May 12. That May 12 win over the Rockies was his last win and the Pirates last win in his starts. Yes, that’s right the Pirates are 0-8 in the last eight Paul Skenes starts which is hard to believe. Skenes has a 4.40 ERA in those eight starts.

His velo is down, he struggles with control at times and threw nearly 40 pitches in that 2nd inning. I’m not sure what the issue is, whether it’s a dead arm or he’s in his head too much with the pitch mix or the velo drop wasn’t by design and he struggles to put the fastball by people now, but it’s concerning. And this team, despite doing their best to hang around .500, isn’t going to make the playoffs if they aren’t winning Paul Skenes starts.

It’s Good to Have Konnor Griffin Back

Konnor Griffin returned Friday night and had an impact on this team and game immediately with a leadoff home run for his 5th longball of the season. He went 2-for-4 in the game and was on base three times after being hit by a pitch in the 7th inning and singled in the 9th as the Pirates tried to rally. One at-bat back from the IL and he adds himself to another list:

The 5th youngest player to hit a leadoff home run and is on the list with Mickey Mantle. He’s going to continue to be on lists like this with what he’s doing at his age.His last game was May 30 so he missed almost a full month, but it sure is good to have him back. If Skenes shoves and the Pirates win this game, the story would have been Konnor Griffin returning, but here we are. It’s still a big boost to this team with Cruz and Horwitz currently sidelined to return and have his game-changing bat back in the lineup. I’m interested to see if he sticks at leadoff while Horwitz on the IL, but so far so good if that’s the plan.

Power Brought the Pirates Back

I’ll admit I had the urge to tweet out something negative about how the offense will now disappear after Skenes gave up four and the Bucs were down 4-1. But I fought it because we’ve seen this offense battle back time and time again and usually gets something off the starter. And they did it once again. Henry Davis reached on an error and they took advantage of it by getting him home on a Brandon Lowe RBI sac fly in the 5th inning to make it 4-2. And then in the 6th inning, Marcell Ozuna did something and belted his 7th home run of the season and two batters later Esmerlyn Valdez tied the game with his 3rd home run of the season. The power once again got it done for the Buccos in coming back. Three solo home runs, if they had some runners on base, I may be writing about a win right now. But once again, this offense got some off the starter (a lefty too) and battled back.