Randy Arozarena homer lifts Mariners to 3rd shutout of Pirates despite Paul Skenes' 10Ks

The Pittsburgh Pirates went scoreless in Seattle.

In a sobering series for a red-hot team coming off three consecutive shutouts of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pirates went ice cold and failed to score a run in three consecutive games against the Mariners.

Mariners righty George Kirby matched Paul Skenes on the mound, and Randy Arozarena hit a solo home run in the sixth inning to lift the Mariners to a 1-0 win Sunday afternoon at T-Mobile Park.

“We definitely could have (taken a better approach), especially coming off that homestand and coming out here,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “It’s frustrating when you put up that many good at-bats and that many runs at home and to come out and get shut out for a series.”

The Pirates (38-53) hadn’t been shut out in all three games of a series since 1888, when they were known as the Alleghenies. The Pirates were coming off a historic six-game homestand in which they outscored the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals, 43-4, in back-to-back sweeps.

Skenes, who became the first Pirates pitcher to be selected to the All-Star Game in his first two seasons, had a season-high 10 strikeouts without a walk while giving up five hits in five scoreless innings. He became the third-youngest Pirates pitcher to have 10 strikeouts without a walk, joining John Candelaria (1976) and Jared Jones (2024).

Skenes had a career-best 11 strikeouts twice last season — at the Chicago Cubs on May 17 and at the Milwaukee Brewers on July 11 — but walked one batter in each outing.

Kirby (3-4) was just as impressive, recording nine strikeouts without a walk while allowing four hits in 6 1/3 scoreless innings.

As outstanding as Skenes and Kirby were, the best throw of the game came from Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz in the first inning.

After a leadoff single by J.P. Crawford, Skenes hit MLB home runs leader Cal Raleigh with a pitch to put runners on first and second with one out for Jorge Polanco, who singled to shallow center.

Cruz made a throw recorded at 105.2 mph — the hardest by a fielder in the major leagues this season, per Statcast — that took a perfect one-hop bounce into the glove of catcher Henry Davis, who was straddling home plate and tagged Crawford on the inner thigh before he could score.

The bang-bang play was so close that Davis checked his mitt to make sure he had the ball, then showed it to home plate umpire Edwin Jimenez, who called Crawford out. The Mariners challenged the call, arguing that Davis was blocking the plate. But after a review, Jimenez announced that the call stood because even though Davis was clearly straddling the plate, Crawford had a clear path to slide.

“I had the best seat in the house. That was unbelievable,” Skenes said. “Henry played it perfectly, too. It feels lucky, but I know that Henry and Oneil kind of created luck for me there. Like I said last week, it’s just a game of catch, and they did a really good job.”

Skenes pointed to Cruz to celebrate the throw, then got Arozarena to fly out to center to escape the inning unscathed. After Kirby struck out all three Pirates on a dozen pitches in the second, Skenes recorded three strikeouts while giving up a single in the bottom of the inning.

The Pirates threatened to score in the fifth inning, when Tommy Pham hit a leadoff single. Jared Triolo grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Davis followed with a single to right. Triolo tagged to third base on Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s fly out to center, putting runners on the corners for Spencer Horwitz. But Kirby got him to pop up to third in foul territory to end the rally.

Skenes struck out five of the final eight batters he faced, getting Rodriguez on a full-count fastball for a called third strike to end the fifth for his career-best sixth strikeout looking.

That was the final batter Skenes faced after throwing 52 of his 78 pitches for strikes, getting 18 whiffs and 13 called strikes.

“I didn’t feel exceptional today, but the fastball command, off-speed command — other than the one in the first to Raleigh on the curveball — I found everything pretty quick despite not feeling 100%,” Skenes said. “It kind of just goes to show what fastball command can do for you.”

With Skenes ranking second in the National League in innings pitched (116), the Pirates are attempting to manage his workload with light-volume games.

“We have a plan. To sit there and know that we want him on the mound and he wants to be on the mound, but also he’s in the top-five in innings pitched in the big leagues,” Kelly said. “We’re just trying to find ways to manage that for him. We want him for the full season and to make sure he’s in a good spot.”

Carmen Mlodzinski relieved Skenes in the sixth and retired the first two batters he faced before falling behind in the count against Arozarena, who drilled a 2-0 fastball 399 feet to left to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead. It was the sixth home run in the last seven games for Arozarena, who has 14 homers this season.

When Kiner-Falefa led off the eighth with a single, the Mariners replaced Carlos Vargas with Gabe Speier, who struck out the top of the order in succession to keep the Pirates scoreless. Mariners All-Star closer Andres Munoz finished off the Pirates with a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his 21st save.

Not only did the Pirates lose their third consecutive game by shutout, but it was their 13th shutout loss this season and fourth in Skenes’ 19 starts.

“It’s been a learning experience all around. The way I’m kind of thinking of it, we’re however many games under .500 right now,” Skenes said. “It’s only a lost season, it’s only a failure of a season if you make it that way. I’m making sure we’re learning from it and getting better through it, even if it’s not showing right now.”