Paul Skenes celebrates his birthday by dominating the Tigers
The phenom just keeps growing as he marks his 22nd birthday by striking out nine Detroit Tigers in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ win at Comerica Park.
Rookie Paul Skenes is a phenomenal talent that keeps growing with each outing. On Wednesday, he celebrated his 22nd birthday with a spectacular performance on the mound. In the Pittsburgh Pirates’ (26-30) thumping of the Detroit Tigers (27-28) by score of 10-2, the LSU graduate moved to 2-0 in only his fourth appearance in the Major Leagues.
Skenes’ work at Comerica Park ended on 96 pitches after six complete innings. The right-handed pitcher struck out nine of the 22 batters he faced, surrendering only three hits. The two runs that he allowed came via a sacrifice fly by Akil Baddoo in the second inning and a solo home run by Matt Vierling in the sixth inning.
The Fullerton, California native has a 2.45 ERA after allowing just six runs in 22 innings of pitching. In total, Skenes has made 373 pitches in the Major Leagues and has 30 strikeouts, walking five and plunking one batter.
Pirates batters helped Skenes out
Skenes was able to celebrate for two reasons thanks to the fact that the Pirates hitters propped up his work on the mound. After giving up the first run, Andrew McCutchen put Pittsburgh into the lead with a three-run home run in the second inning.
Nick Gonzales added another run with a solo shot in the fourth, while in the sixth, Jared Triolo hit a sacrifice fly that scored Gonzales. The Pirates added two more runs in the seventh on another sacrifice fly by Bryan Reynolds and then McCutchen scored on a grounder by Connor Joe.
Not done yet, McCutchen drove in one more run in the eighth inning with a powerful ground ball to right field. The ninth run was produced by an Oneil Cruz triple and the tenth came thanks to Gonzales with a single to left field.