Paul Skenes once again flirted with a no-hitter in the 7th inning and ended up striking out 10 across eight shutout innings in a 3-1 Pirates win over the Rockies. The offense did enough thanks to a couple of doubles from Oneil Cruz, two hits and an RBI from Nick Gonzales and Gregory Soto allowed a run in the 9th inning, but picked up his fourth save of the season. DiNardo and Doug broke this performance down on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti’s Bros. You can watch/listen here:
Here’s my three takeaways from this dominant outing…
Paul Skenes is Awesome
Paul Skenes does it again taking a no-hitter deep into a game. It’s basically just a matter of time until he tosses the first no-hitter in Pirates history since the Cordova/Rincon combined no no in 1997. Skenes goes 8.0 shutout innings with just two hits allowed and strike outs 10 Rockies Tuesday night. Remember when his ERA was over 67? Me neither. It now sits at 1.98 for the season. Here’s some Skenes notes/stats I’ll leave you with:
- In seven of his nine starts this season, he’s allowed zero or one run
- The Pirates are now 6-3 in his starts (should be 7-2 but that lengthy rain delay against the Rays screwed that up)
- Skenes hasn’t issued a walk in a month…April 13 to be exact versus the Nationals
- Since Opening Day, Skenes has given up six earned runs in 49.1 innings…that’s a 1.09 ERA
- He’s the resounded favorite on FanDuel (+170) to win his second straight NL Cy Young award
- Skenes struck out the side THREE times in this game
- The Rockies whiffed on 35% of their swings against Skenes (19/54)
- He made a no-hitter in the 7th inning seem standard
Also, the chains are completely off Skenes as he’s been pitching to 100 pitches now for a good month, it’s so fun to watch. I don’t know how long Paul Skenes will be in a Pirates uniform for his career, but let’s just enjoy the ride and win something while he’s here.
Nick Gonzales Continues to Impress
Folks might tell you it won’t last or he doesn’t hit enough doubles and home runs or they’d rather have a better third baseman than Nick Gonzales and it’s all fair points, but guess what? At the moment, IDGAF. Nick G continues to slap the ball all over the field and especially with runners in scoring position. Gonzales didn’t wait long to do some damage in this game as he slapped an RBI single in the first inning to score Oneil Cruz and give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Of course, he finished with two hits again with a later double (!) and he raised his slash line to .321/.383/.371. Sure, some more power would be nice but cue the Moneyball line: “He gets on base, why do I care how he does it?” Nicky G isn’t just getting on base, he’s driving in runs with 19 RBIs on the season now. Sure, his OBP is 70 points over his career average, sure he’s playing out of position, but right now as long as he keeps hitting and driving in clutch runs, who cares?
Time to Have a Meeting About These ABS Challenges
For the second time in a week, the Pirates blew through both of their ABS challenges in the first three innings. That can’t happen. I don’t know why there isn’t a mandate about who can call these challenges but challenging balls and strikes in the first inning is DUMB. It’s too low leverage at that point in the game. Especially when it doesn’t even change the result of an at-bat. I think it’s time for Don Kelly to have a meeting with the team on when to challenge. Either hold them until the 7th, 8th and 9th innings or don’t call them unless an overturn would change the result of an at-bat. For example, Oneil Cruz strikes out and he believes strike three was a ball then challenge. Bases loaded with two outs and you think the umpire just called ball four a strike, go ahead and challenge. But challenging a 1-1 pitch in the 2nd inning because you think you got hosed is stupid. Don’t do that. I’ve learned one thing from these ABS challenges—I think folks owe the umpires an apology. Calling balls and strikes is tougher than people think. MLB players are only hitting at a poor 53-54% success rate so far with the ABS challenges. Save the challenges for when they matter a little more…please.
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