Paul Skenes struggles, allowing career-high 3 homers, as Pirates drop series to Cubs

As he closes in on a calendar year of being a major-leaguer, Paul Skenes often has embraced the role of stopper for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Whomever the opponent, whatever the circumstance, the Pirates feel pretty good about their prospects of winning when Skenes is on the mound.

However, in Thursday’s series finale against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park, Skenes was far from the best version of himself, allowing uncharacteristic hard contact and struggling with command in an 8-3 defeat.

Skenes (3-3, 2.74 ERA) gave up a career-high three home runs and tied his career high in walks (four) in front of a crowd of 13,633, lasting five innings while allowing three runs on five hits with two strikeouts.

The 22-year-old reigning NL Rookie of the Year, whose strikeout total was a career low, took the loss, throwing a season-low 86 pitches, 49 for strikes.

“Execution wasn’t there,” Skenes said. “Kind of spraying the ball. Got away with it there for a while, and obviously it showed up a little bit in the fifth, but it is what it is. … I wasn’t super sharp today.”

The fifth inning is when Skenes allowed solo home runs to Dansby Swanson, Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki.

Swanson and Suzuki connected on splinkers, and Tucker launched a fastball into the right-center field stands.

Heading into Thursday, Skenes had allowed only one home run in six prior outings.

“Good pieces of hitting,” Skenes said of the home runs. “I don’t know. I probably missed my spot, but yeah, good for them.”

Two innings earlier, things looked a bit off for Skenes, who walked Ian Happ, Tucker and Suzuki consecutively to load the bases.

But Michael Busch grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

Skenes’ four walks Thursday equaled how many he’d allowed in 32 2/3 prior innings this season.

After the fifth inning, with the Pirates down 3-2, Don Kelly, managing in place of Derek Shelton, who was in Florida attending his son’s college graduation, opted to end Skenes’ outing.

“He just didn’t seem as sharp today,” Kelly said. “He’s a competitor, man. He (goes) out there and gives you everything he’s got every single day. He wanted to keep going and get after it. I don’t think his stuff was as sharp there in the third, and then in the fifth it trended down, too.”

The Pirates (12-20) built an early 2-0 lead.

In the first, Bryan Reynolds hit his fourth homer of the year, a solo shot over the Clemente Wall off Cubs starter Colin Rea.

Rea (2-0, 1.46 ERA) lasted six innings, allowing two runs on four hits with a pair of walks and strikeouts.

Oneil Cruz made it 2-0 in the third with an RBI double toward the North Side Notch, plating Henry Davis, who walked, from first base.

But from there, the Pirates offense largely fizzled out.

In the eighth, Davis singled and Cruz reached on a fielder’s choice and error by Swanson at shortstop, and both runners advanced on a wild pitch by reliever Porter Hodge with no outs.

Reynolds drove in Cruz with a groundout to make it 5-3, but Andrew McCutchen grounded out and Ke’Bryan Hayes lined out to end the inning.

“To get an opportunity to push one across and trying to get that other one, Ke’Bryan put a really good swing on that ball that went right to Happ in left,” Kelly said. “Just got to continue to battle, continue to get pitches to hit and put good swings on it in those situations.”

Hayes (0 for 4) saw a 10-game hitting streak end.

The Cubs (19-13) roughed up Hunter Stratton for four hits and three runs in the ninth to take an 8-3 lead.