Paul Skenes strikes out 9, Jared Jones struggles as Pirates split doubleheader at Detroit

The Pittsburgh Pirates put their 22-year-old rookie right-handers on display in a doubleheader at the Detroit Tigers, and the results couldn’t have been more different for Jared Jones and Paul Skenes.

Where Jones had the worst and shortest start of his career by allowing five earned runs in 4¹⁄₃ innings in an 8-0 loss in the first game, Skenes celebrated his birthday with another dominant performance that showcased his secondary pitch as a primary weapon.

Skenes recorded nine strikeouts and held the Tigers to two runs on three hits and one walk over six innings in a 10-2 win in the second game for a series split Wednesday at Comerica Park.

“Yeah, it was good. We got a win,” Skenes (2-0) said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “Obviously, nice to pitch with run support.”

It’s the most strikeouts by a Pirates pitcher on his birthday since at least 1901 and marks the second time in four career starts Skenes has had at least nine strikeouts and allowed only three hits. After striking out 11 in six scoreless innings May 17 at the Chicago Cubs, Skenes has a 1.50 ERA and .079 batting average against in two road starts.

As impressive, Skenes averaged 99.2 mph on his four-seam fastball but showed strong command of his splinker, the splitter-sinker hybrid that has become a dangerous complementary pitch. He got 25 swings, 11 whiffs and six called strikes on 39 splinkers, using it to strike out four consecutive Tigers in the third and fourth innings.

“It’s a good pitch. I was leaning on it today, for sure,” Skenes said. “I just had good feel for it and it was doing well, so I kept throwing it.”

Jones, by contrast, gave up hits to the first three batters he faced in a three-run first inning and was knocked out after surrendering a three-run homer followed by a double in a four-run fifth.

Jones (3-5) got 15 called strikes but drew only four whiffs — none with his fastball — in giving up five hits and two walks on 83 pitches over 4 ¹⁄₃ innings. It marked the first time in 11 starts he didn’t go at least five innings and allowed more than three runs.

“I just didn’t feel good, even to start the game, really,” Jones said. “I didn’t have a good (bullpen session), and I think it just carried over to the game. It’s the first really bad start I’ve had since I’ve been up here. It’s going to come eventually. … I’m just going to go back to the drawing board.”

Perhaps the biggest difference between Jones and Skenes, however, was the run support. Jones got none, and the Pirates committed three errors that contributed to six runs. In the second game, the Pirates scored 10 runs on 13 hits, improving to 16-0 when getting 10 or more hits.

The Tigers got an early lead against Skenes in the second inning, as Mark Canha worked an eight-pitch leadoff walk, advanced to third on Colt Keith’s single off shortstop Oneil Cruz’s glove and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Akil Baddoo.

Jared Triolo reached on a swinging bunt to third for a leadoff single in the third inning against Keider Montero, making his major-league debut. Ji Hwan Bae followed with a single, then Andrew McCutchen sent Montero’s 2-2 fastball over the middle 377 feet to left field for his eighth home run and a 3-1 lead. It was McCutchen’s 1,600th hit as a Pirate.

After going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in the first game, McCutchen went 3 for 4 with a homer, double and a walk in the second game.

“We were a little dry in the first game, so I tried to get things going,” McCutchen said in an onfield postgame interview with SportsNet Pittsburgh. “It was nice that I could put three on the board for Paul — as if he needs it. It was a good start for the team, especially at the top of the order, so I was glad I was able to do that.

“I had four at-bats prior to that game to get myself prepared. Not often do you get that opportunity. If you go 0 for 4, you’ve got to sit on it for a day or two. I was a little warmed up, I guess, ready to go into the second game. It was nice that I was able to get some hits this time around.”

Nick Gonzales, who went 3 for 5, took Montero deep for his third homer, a 361-foot solo shot to left to lead off the fourth that stretched the lead to 4-1. Gonzales led off the sixth with a double, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Triolo for a 5-1 lead.

Skenes struck out the side in the fourth but required 21 pitches to do so, running his pitch count to 78. He retired the side on nine pitches in the fifth, earning a chance for another inning to clinch a quality start. He gave up a two-out solo homer to Matt Vierling before retiring Canha.

“The most impressive thing is he still finished hitters,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He did a really good job. He was really efficient the last two innings, which was really helpful for us.”

Pirates catcher Grant Koch, who made his major-league debut in the first game and his first start in the second, drew a leadoff walk in the seventh, advanced to third on a double by McCutchen and scored on a sacrifice fly to deep center by Bryan Reynolds for a 6-2 lead. McCutchen scored on a head-first slide on Connor Joe’s grounder to second to make it 7-2.

McCutchen added an RBI single to score Rowdy Tellez for an 8-2 lead in the eighth. Cruz tripled to drive in Joe in the ninth, then scored on a single by Gonzales for a 10-2 lead.

In the first game, the Tigers got eight strikeouts in seven scoreless innings from Tarik Skubal (7-1). The lefty held the Pirates to three hits and one walk without any runners advancing past second base. He was at 70 pitches through four innings but needed only four pitches in the fifth, eight in the sixth and 11 in the seventh to retire the final nine batters he faced.

Mason Englert relieved Skubal, and they combined to retired the final 16 batters.

“That may have been the best pitching performance we’ve seen so far this year,” Shelton said. “He had command of everything on all parts of the plate. He really threw the ball well. That’s really good stuff. Obviously, you don’t want to get beat but we got pitched to today.”

It was the second-worst loss of the season for the Pirates, who also lost by eight runs at the New York Mets (9-1) on April 17 and at the Milwaukee Brewers (10-2) on May 15. Their most lopsided defeat came against the Los Angeles Angels (9-0) on May 7.

Wencel Perez lined an 0-2 fastball over the middle to the right-center gap for a leadoff triple, and scored on Vierling’s single to center to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Riley Greene followed with a single to right to put runners on the corners, and Vierling scored on Canha’s sacrifice fly to right field to make it 2-0.

A fielding error by Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, in his first game since May 7 after a stint on the injured list, put Tigers runners on first and third again. Colt Keith grounded into a forceout at second to drive in Greene for a 3-0 lead.

“He wasn’t as sharp,” Shelton said. “The velo was down a little bit. It was one of those things where it probably wasn’t one of his better games.”

Jones retired nine consecutive batters before running into trouble in the fifth. Jake Rogers drew a full-count walk, then knocked the ball out of the glove of Gonzales on a fielder’s choice by Perez. That left two runners on base for Vierling, who sent a 1-1 slider 373 feet into the left-field seats for his sixth home run and a 6-0 lead.

The Pirates replaced Jones with Luis Ortiz, who gave up an RBI single to Gio Urshela to score Greene as the Tigers stretched their advantage to seven runs. The Tigers tacked on another run in the sixth as Javier Baez reached on a throwing error by Ortiz and scored on a single by Rogers for an 8-0 lead.

“This kid has been so good,” Shelton said of Jones. “He’s going to go through bumps in the road. We can’t expect every time he goes out that it’s going to be six scoreless or six with one run. He just had a little bump in the road today.”