Paul Skenes' no-hit, 11-strikeout outing powers Pirates past Brewers for series win

When it comes to velocity, command and ability to sequence his pitches effectively, Paul Skenes continues to prove he has few equals across baseball.

The Pittsburgh Pirates rookie and newly named first-time All-Star put all of those elite abilities on display Thursday afternoon against the Milwaukee Brewers, helping his club to a 1-0 win and series victory at American Family Field.

Skenes (6-0, 1.90 ERA) was nothing short of masterful, pitching seven no-hit innings while tying his career high in strikeouts with 11.

The 22-year-old walked and hit a batter in the second inning, but other than that, he kept Milwaukee off the basepaths completely, throwing 99 pitches.

Manager Derek Shelton explained his decision to pull Skenes with the no-hitter intact on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. The Brewers collected their first hit in their first at-bat after Skenes’ departure when Jake Bauers singled off Colin Holderman to lead off the eighth.

“He was tired. Really didn’t have anything to do with pitch count,” Shelton said. “Everybody makes it about pitch count. It was about where he was at.”

“Even after the sixth, we could tell he was getting a little bit tired,” Shelton said. “I think that’s the first time we’ve seen it with the volume that he’s had. But overall, the fact that he was able to go back and get through the seventh, it was really impressive. He did a great job.”

Holderman escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, and Aroldis Chapman shut the door in the ninth to record his fourth save and preserve the shutout.

Per Baseball Reference, Skenes became the first rookie in MLB history to have multiple games with at least six innings pitched and no hits allowed, having no-hit the Chicago Cubs through six innings May 17, striking out 11.

“That’s a good lineup, obviously, and we were just able to navigate it,” catcher Yasmani Grandal said in an on-field postgame interview. “We threw way too many pitches — a little bit more than we wanted early on — but we started getting early contact later, and we were able to get him through seven. The fact that he was able to do that was great. … The more he got through the game, the better he got.”

Grandal put the Pirates (45-48) ahead 1-0 in the seventh with an RBI double that scored Jack Suwinski, who had reached first base on a forceout.

Skenes struck out Brice Turang to begin the bottom of the first and ended his opening frame with a strikeout of Christian Yelich.

In the third, Skenes struck out the side. He picked up two more strikeouts in the fourth.

When he got William Contreras swinging to end the third for his seventh strikeout, Skenes took possession of a Pirates franchise record, having struck out at least seven batters in eight consecutive starts.

Mitch Keller previously held the mark over seven starts from April 27-May 31, 2023.

Skenes leaned heavily on his four-seam fastball (37%) and splinker (34%) on Thursday, with the two pitches accounting for 71 of 99 thrown, per Statcast.

“I think we went into the outing with a plan on each individual guy,” Skenes told MLB Network after the win. “Started out executing that and kind of reading what their approach was, we deviated from our gameplan a little bit. Just adjusted to what they were doing and what they were thinking. Just made it fun.”

While Skenes did his part to keep the Brewers at bay, the Pirates had a hard time against Milwaukee starter Aaron Civale (2-7 4.94).

They had a good opportunity in the sixth, when Rowdy Tellez and Nick Gonzales got aboard with back-to-back singles, but Joshua Palacios grounded out to end the inning.

However, shortly thereafter, Grandal hit his RBI double in the seventh, leading into Civale’s departure.

After Bauers’s hit in the eighth, Garrett Mitchell followed with a single. Holderman then calmed down and struck out two in a row. He loaded the bases shortly after that by walking Turang, only to recover and strike out Contreras.

In the ninth, Chapman, who has fluctuated significantly in effectiveness over the course of the year, sealed the win without issue, retiring Milwaukee in order.

“Series win here — this is a good team,” Shelton said. “They like to work hard. This was a good series. Today was a really hard-fought victory, and I’m really proud of our group.”