Paul Skenes entered play on Tuesday 0-4 against the St. Louis Cardinals. While his career ERA against the Pirates division rival was in the low-to-mid two's, all that mattered to Cardinals fans was an old-school statistic: wins. St. Louis escaped Skenes and Pittsburgh without handing Skenes that first W against the Cards, though the Pirates defeated their NL Central foe, 1-0. Skenes went five innings, giving up just five hits and striking out five Cardinals hitters. It must've been his magic number.
The Cardinals against Skenes is one many teams employ – if you can't get on-base against him, at least make the Pirates ace work. It's an understandable ploy, as rival teams have a far better chance at beating the Pittsburgh bullpen than they do Skenes. However, for a fanbase which claims to have Skenes' number, it's a little sad that their only hope at knocking him out is to play the waiting game.
“I think that's one of the things teams try to do against me,” Skenes said about the Cardinals working the count. “We've done a pretty good job at times this year of counteracting that. Today was one of the days that they did a better job than we did. There are a lot of pitches that I executed that they just touched. Some for hits, a lot for foul balls and some for outs. Just one of those days."
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Cardinals strategy against Paul Skenes didn't work in the end
As Skenes mentioned, the Cardinals strategy worked. Skenes was removed after five innings. However, what the Cards didn't factor in and was the Pirates bullpen out-dueling that of St. Louis. Caleb Ferguson, Isaac Mattson and David Bednar combined for four shutout innings against the Cardinals lineup.
St. Louis brought their best effort against Skenes, in part to make a statement. They fouled off 24 of his pitches in just five innings of work.
“I feel that when Paul is pitching, that team is bringing their absolute best because they know Paul Skenes is pitching,” pitching coach Oscar Marin said. “There are going to be times where they don’t let him get deep in the counts and they’re going to swing away because they don’t want to get to two strikes and get to his nasty stuff, and there are going to be some teams that wait him out. I think it all depends on the team.”
The Cardinals were not intent on swinging early in the count against Skenes, which was reflected in an early hook. Skenes will take a Pirates victory however he can get it. These days – with Pittsburgh having won their last five games entering play on Wednesday – the wins are coming early and often.