Pirates' Paul Skenes Still Seeking First Win Against Cardinals

ST. LOUIS -- Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes still hasn't found what he's looking for against the St. Louis Cardinals -- a win.

After suffering a 2-1 defeat on Tuesday evening, Skenes dropped to an 0-4 record in his first five career starts against the Cardinals. This marks the highest number of consecutive starts by a Pirates pitcher at the beginning of their career against St. Louis without securing a victory. JT Brubaker recorded 0 wins in six appearances across eight starts from 2021 to 2022.

Skenes pitched well enough in his latest start, giving up two runs and three hits in six innings. But one mistake to Alec Burleson The player who scored with a two-out, two-run double in the sixth inning made all the difference.

Skenes mentioned they weren’t carrying out the plan properly.

Burleson (6-for-15) boasts more career hits against Skenes than any other Major Leaguer. Compounding Skenes' irritation is the fact that the inning began with two outs in the sixth when the rally ensued. Nolan Arenado singled and Willson Contreras walked before Burleson came to the plate.

"There is no secret," Burleson said of facing Skenes. "It takes a little bit of luck I feel like. It's just with a guy like him you have to have a plan and stick to it for three, four at-bats. It may not necessarily give you success that night, but it gives you the best chance to have success. So that's what I did and it worked out and I had a good time."

Skenes, who surrendered a season-best five runs in a defeat against the Cardinals in Pittsburgh on April 8, holds a 2.75 ERA in his five previous starts versus St. Louis.

"I feel like we took tough at-bats," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "Didn't have a ton to show for it, but pitch count, we were able to drive that up, some deep counts. The guys continued to battle. You have to stay short through the middle of the field and battle from pitch one against someone like Skenes. I felt like our guys did that."

Skenes issued about four walks, tying a peak he reached in his previous game against the Cubs.

During some moments, it seemed as though he had lost control, but then he returned and truly delivered with his pitching," stated Pirates manager Derek Shelton. "He allowed only about three hits... overall, he performed quite well. The one mistake was a fastball that slipped outside towards Burleson, which ultimately decided the outcome of the match.

Although Skenes wants to send another pitch to Burleson, he too suffered from insufficient offensive backing. Across his five starts against the Cardinals covering 32⅔ innings, Skenes received just three runs of support while he was pitching.

The Pirates have dropped six consecutive matches and nine out of their last ten games.

"We're not being very consistent right now offensively," Shelton said. "We're not getting things going and, you know, we've tried some different lineups. We've tried lineup changes. We've tried consistency of lineups. So, I think it's something we just got to keep exploring."

Pitching is not the problem, Pirates third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes said.

"And I mean, we just got to pick them up and score runs. So however, that may be, whether it be drawing walks, getting that big hit, we just got to find a way."