Pittsburgh Rookie Paul Skenes lost for the first time in 12 career major league starts. There were two career firsts for Paul on Tuesday night in a 2-1 loss against the St. Louis Cardinals.
He pitched into the ninth inning and he also suffered an official loss. Skenes had previously compiled a 6-0 record while not totaling more than seven innings over the course of his first 11 big league starts.
He is currently a big thing in MLB. He had already accumulated a 1.90 ERA (215 ERA+) and a 6.85 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his first 11 starts.
Recently, he became the first player in MLB history to be a part of the All-Star Game the summer after being drafted. This piece of information gives you a look into what he has accomplished since he started playing for the National League.
In the last match on Tuesday, Skenes delivered 8 1/3 innings of two-run ball for the Pirates. He surrendered four hits and no walks. He got eight batters out on 104 pitches. It is the deepest start of his career. But we have to remember that he’s been removed twice from the games without allowing a hit. This is not his highest pitch count yet. That belongs to a game against the New York Mets on July 5 when Skenes threw 107 pitches.
With Nolan Arenado’s home run, the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning. The Pirates tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. However, they fell behind on Alec Burleson’s single in the top of the ninth.