PITTSBURGH — The Pirates were able to put an ugly weekend series behind them on Monday night at PNC Park, giving Paul Skenes some early run support ahead of his six scoreless innings to beat the Tigers, 3-0.
It was the first time Skenes pitched six innings in an outing since June 19 in the club’s effort to manage his innings. It had to have helped that Skenes pitched most of the game without much drama, working around a pair of hits to lead off the third inning, the Tigers’ only rally of the night. Skenes struck out six with three hits and a walk on his ledger, tossing 86 pitches in his first game since starting the All-Star Game.
The Pirates were able to strike early against Jack Flaherty, piling on three runs in the second. Bryan Reynolds delivered the big hit of the inning, a two-out, two-run single to plate Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Spencer Horwitz. Horwitz had opened the scoring two batters earlier with an RBI single.
Horwitz had three hits batting out of the leadoff spot, matching a season high. Ke’Bryan Hayes had a pair of hits, one of which sparked the second-inning rally.
Braxton Ashcraft and Dennis Santana bridged the gap to the ninth, where David Bednar locked down his 14th save of the season.
