Pirates, Paul Skenes no match for red-hot Brewers in 14-0 rout

Even Pirates ace Paul Skenes couldn’t cool off the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

Skenes, making his 25th start of the season, gave up two or more home runs for the second time this season and threw 93 pitches over four innings as the Pirates were routed by the Brewers, 14-0, for their 70th loss of the season. Skenes allowed six hits, four earned runs and walked two while striking out four.

The Brewers, who recorded 15 hits and got to Pirates relievers Yohan Ramirez and Ryan Borucki for six runs in the sixth inning, have won 11 straight games and lead the NL Central by 7 1⁄2 games, the largest divisional lead in baseball.

Milwaukee’s leadoff hitter hit a home run for the second straight night as right fielder Sal Frelick connected on a 98 mph fastball to take a 1-0 lead. Brice Turang, who homered from the leadoff spot Monday night, hit his 12th of the season in the fourth inning, sending a 3-2 fastball 435 feet to straightaway center field.

“They are obviously hot right now,” Skenes said on the the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “I got in positions that weren’t very advantageous to me, to where I had to be perfect. I didn’t have my best stuff today, and they jumped on it. It is what it is.”

Catcher William Contreras gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead in the third inning when he doubled into the right-center gap, scoring Frelick from first base. Milwaukee tagged Skenes for one more in the fourth when Frelick singled home Joey Ortiz from second.

Skenes utilized the entirety of his seven-pitch arsenal, throwing every pitch at least once, but didn’t quite have command of anything in crucial counts. He threw his fastball 42% of the time and used his sweeper 15 times, but didn’t draw more than five whiffs with any of his pitches. He threw his fastball 32 times against left-handed hitters while only throwing it seven times against righties, which was when he utilized his sweeper most.

“I don’t think anything was perfect today. I wouldn’t say everything was off,” Skenes said. “I just couldn’t really count on any singular pitch to be executed and get guys out. I think that’s what it comes down to, whether it’s the changeup, the slider or the heater. I had some 3-2 pitches that caught too much of the plate, and I didn’t execute two-strike pitches as well as I should have. They did a good job capitalizing on it.”

Skenes entered Tuesday’s contest with the lowest ERA (1.94) in the major leagues. It climbed to 2.13 after his shortest outing since his last matchup against the Brewers on June 25, when he threw 78 pitches as his workload was managed heading into the All-Star break. He’s faced the Brewers three times this season and is 0-2 with a 5.79 ERA.

Pirates manager Don Kelly lasted just as long as his star pitcher, as he was ejected by home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz in the fifth inning after Jack Suwinski struck out looking on a pitch outside the strike zone. Kelly exchanged words with Ortiz near home plate and seemingly drew a line off the side of home plate to describe where he thought Freddy Peralta’s pitch missed. It was his fourth ejection since becoming the Pirates’ manager May 8.

“I don’t really want to get into it too much there, but it’s one of those things where I obviously didn’t agree with the call and some other calls in the game up to that point,” Kelly said. “It just got to a point where I’m going to have my guys’ backs. That’s what we’ve talked about from the beginning. I’m going to have their backs.”

Milwaukee poured it on in the later innings as first baseman Andrew Vaughn capped the Brewers’ six-run sixth inning with a three-run homer.

He is one of baseball’s hottest hitters since debuting for the Brewers on July 7, hitting .347 with the second-most RBIs (32) in the majors.

“They do have momentum, and they are going to put up good at-bats,” Kelly said. “I think with Paul today, the fastball was there, it just seemed like he didn’t have full command of the offspeed and they got ahold of some fastballs.”

Ramirez and Borucki gave up a combined seven earned runs while allowing five hits over two innings. Pirates shortstop Jared Triolo pitched for the first time in his career in the eighth and gave up a two-run home run to Caleb Durbin.

The Pirates’ offense was silenced for the second straight night as Peralta allowed three hits and struck out seven over six innings. Isaiah Kiner-Falefa doubled while Spencer Horwitz and Bryan Reynolds each singled. Nick Gonzales recorded a hit off Brewers infielder Anthony Seigler in the ninth inning.

“We gotta flush it,” Kelly said of the loss. “We have a day game tomorrow. Flush it and come back and compete tomorrow.”

Oneil Cruz was removed from the game in the top of the sixth inning and was evaluated for a head injury. Kelly said he was still being evaluated after the game. Cruz collided with Jack Suwinski in the fourth as the two slid while attempting to catch a Joey Ortiz pop-up.