Even beyond Paul Skenes' debut, Pirates-Cubs series forecasts to be pitching paradise

Paul Skenes’ Pittsburgh Pirates debut is by far the biggest draw to PNC Park this weekend. But it’s not the only one, particularly if you like pitching.

The Chicago Cubs are in town to open a three-game set. They begin the series at 22-16. That’s just percentage points behind the Milwaukee Brewers atop the National League Central. The Pirates are five games off the pace at 17-21.

But both teams have gotten very good starting pitching so far this season. The Cubs’ starting staff has an ERA of 3.07, second best in the National League. The Pirates are fourth at 3.64. Similarly, the Cubs’ collective starting WHIP is 1.15, second best in the NL, while the Pirates are fourth at 1.18.

Chicago’s starters have yielded the fewest walks in the NL (52), and the Pirates have only given up 58, the third-lowest total in the league. In terms of batting average against, at .230, the Cubs are third and the Pirates are sixth at .239.

Whatever the Pirates have gotten so far from the starting staff, should get a boost when Skenes — the 2023 No. 1 overall draft choice — toes the rubber for the first time as a Major Leaguer Saturday afternoon.

Chicago counters with Justin Steele. After finishing fifth in the Cy Young balloting last season at 16-5, Steele suffered an early-season hamstring injury and has pitched just twice this year. But in those two games he has allowed only one earned run in 9 ⅓ innings pitched.

For as much attention as Saturday’s game is getting, Friday’s is high in intrigue on the mound as well. Jared Jones gets the call for Pittsburgh. The rookie right-hander would be getting significantly more buzz this year if Pittsburgh hadn’t been so consumed with Skenes’ arrival. Jones’ 52 strikeouts are tied for fifth in the National League. He’s also posting a 2.63 ERA and a WHIP of 0.78. That’s good for third in the NL.

Last time out for Jones, he tallied 10 strikeouts over seven innings of one-hit, shutout baseball en route to a 1-0 Pirates win over the Colorado Rockies Saturday.

“I’m just going out there and doing me,” Jones said after that start. “I’m sure I’ve had some spurts in my career where I’ve pitched just like this. (Then) some stuff happens, and it goes bad for one game, and it fluctuates the ERA. But I’m feeling pretty good right now.”

Jared Jones has arrived ???? ????‍☠️ pic.twitter.com/LhpqIOfBCY

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) May 4, 2024

He’ll be opposed by Javier Assad, who is off to a 3-0 start. His 1.66 ERA is fourth in Major League Baseball. Assad’s teammate, Shota Imanaga, leads the majors in that category at 1.08.

¡VICTORIA DEL TIJUANENSE! ????

Con una gran salida, Javier Assad se lleva su tercer triunfo de la temporada ???? 6 innings donde no permitió carrera y bajó su ERA a 1.66 ????

No solo eso, también es líder de efectividad en la Liga Nacional ???????? ¡Tremendo! #YoAmoElBeis pic.twitter.com/bxXSk0mZwH

— MLB México (@MLB_Mexico) May 5, 2024

As of now, Mitch Keller is scheduled for Sunday. The 2023 All-Star is coming off his best outing of the year, a 4-1 complete-game win over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday.

“That’s the best we’ve seen his mix,” manager Derek Shelton said of Keller after that outing. “There were a couple of games last year we had a similar mix. But I think (Monday) it was the best we’ve seen it. And it was the best we’ve seen it maintained. It maintained with all four pitches throughout the game.”

Related:

• Tim Benz: Steelers WR depth issues can't be rationalized away
• First Call: Steelers may consider return with Bud Dupree; Allen Robinson signs elsewhere; Jake Guentzel scores again
• Mark Madden: All aboard the Paul Skenes hype train

Meanwhile, Chicago’s starter on Sunday is TBA. At one point earlier in the week, former Pirate Jameson Taillon had initially been scheduled to open the series for the Cubs with a 3-0 record and a 1.13 ERA over four starts. After a delayed start to the season because of back concerns, Taillon has yet to allow more than one earned run in any of his outings thus far.

“He has been outstanding,” Cubs play-by-play man Zach Zaidman said on Thursday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. “In the offseason, he really went to work. I think he changed the workout plan. He worked with the Cubs on changing his pitch plan. He’s a very analytical guy. So he talked a lot about his stride direction, his arm path — all the kinds of stuff that the pitchers now use when they go into the lab and generate the analytics with the physical part of it.”

Jameson Taillon, Nasty 80mph Sweeper. ???? pic.twitter.com/keGWJpqDE7

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 4, 2024

Like Skenes, Taillon was a first-round pick for the Pirates in 2010. He stayed with the Pirates until he was traded to the New York Yankees in 2021. He has been a Cub since signing with the franchise in advance of the 2023 campaign.

So if you like pitching, you should like what you are about to see this weekend between the Pirates and Cubs. And with the Pirates’ lack of hitting I’m sure that’ll make Chicago’s staff look all the better.

Skenes will probably have to learn pretty quickly how much heavy lifting he is going to have to do by himself around here. No doubt Jones and Keller have already figured that out.