Skenes dominant in first loss of the season

Rookie pitcher Paul Skenes struck out eight through 8 1/3, but Cardinals scored late for 2-1 win.

The crowd roared when Paul Skenes ran to the mound for the ninth inning, chanting “M-V-P!” as the Pittsburgh Pirates gave rookie phenom the chance to pitch the first complete game of his major-league career.

In his first start since the All-Star Game, Skenes showed ruthless efficiency and had made only one mistake — surrendering a solo home run to Nolan Arenado in the fifth inning — so the move made sense.

Then the St. Louis Cardinals challenged to overturn a call that put Michael Siani in scoring position and got an RBI single by Alec Burleson for a 2-1 win over the Pirates on Tuesday night before 32,422 at PNC Park.

It was the first career loss for Skenes (6-1), who allowed two runs on four hits and eight strikeouts without a walk while throwing 78 of his 104 pitches for strikes in 81⁄3 innings.

The Cardinals (53-48) increased their lead over the Pirates (51-50) to two games for both second place in the NL Central and the wild-card standings.

The Pirates put Cardinals starter Lance Lynn in a tight spot in the second, when Rowdy Tellez drew a fourpitch walk, Jack Suwinski hit a two-out single to left and Yasmani Grandal lined a comebacker off Lynn’s leg for an infield single to load the bases. Lynn got Andrew McCutchen to pop up to shallow center to escape the jam.

After Skenes retired the first seven batters he faced, Nolan Gorman hit a soft grounder up the middle past Skenes with one out in the third inning. Second baseman Nick Gonzales made a backhand stop but his wide throw pulled first baseman Tellez off the bag, and Gorman was credited with a single.

That ended Skenes’ streak of nine consecutive no-hit innings, dating to his July 11 start at the Milwaukee Brewers (the All-Star Game doesn’t count toward official records). It was the longest hitless streak by a Pirates pitcher since Mitch Keller tossed 11 consecutive from Sept. 19-25, 2020.

Michael Siani battled through a 10-pitch at-bat, including five foul balls, before Skenes got him swinging at a 95-mph splinker for a strikeout. Masyn Winn then grounded into a forceout to end the frame.

In the fifth, Skenes surrendered his first run in 14 innings when he left a curveball over the middle and Arenado drove it 385 feet and over the outstretched glove of left fielder Bryan Reynolds for a leadoff home run to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

Skenes responded by getting Lars Nootbaar swinging on a splinker, Paul Goldschmidt on a slider and Gorman looking at a 98.3-mph fastball for a called third strike.

In the bottom of the fifth, Suwinski hit a leadoff double to right, Reynolds drew a four-pitch walk with two outs and Oneil Cruz worked a full-count walk to load the bases. But Gonzales hit a dribbler down the third-base line, and Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras threw him out at first to leave the runners stranded again.

Skenes remained ruthlessly efficient, requiring 11 pitches or fewer in five of his first seven innings. He needed only seven pitches (all strikes) to navigate the seventh.

Even so, the Pirates failed to provide any run support. When Connor Joe pinch-hit for Suwinski in the seventh and hit a leadoff single off lefty John King, the Cardinals turned to righty Andrew Kittredge, who got Grandal to ground into a 1-6-3 double play and struck out Mc-Cutchen.

Skenes gained steam in the eighth, striking out Nootbaar and Goldschmidt to extend his franchise-record string of games with seven or more strikeouts to nine consecutive. That tied the major- league rookie record set by Dwight Gooden in 1984 and tied by Brandon Beachy in 2011. Skenes then fired a 100.8-mph fastball on his 91st pitch to get Gorman to fly out to left for the third out.

That got the crowd going, and the Pirates capitalized on the momentum shift when Cruz hit a fly ball that dropped in shallow center for a double and Gonzales drove him in with a single to left to tie it at 1-1.

Siani started the ninth by hitting a sharp grounder down the left-field line but was called out on Reynolds’ throw to second. The Cardinals challenged, and it was overturned after review. Siani advanced to third on Winn’s groundout to second, then scored on Burleson’s single to right for a 2-1 lead. That was it for Skenes, who was replaced by Carmen Mlodzinski.

Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley struck out the side to clinch his 33rd save.