Tim Benz: Even if it's an actual Sunday, no more 'Sunday lineups' for Paul Skenes, please

Whenever Paul Skenes is pitching, the Pittsburgh Pirates can’t roll out their Sunday lineup.

Even if it is actually a Sunday.

The Pirates learned that lesson this Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays during an afternoon when Skenes allowed a leadoff home run, then nothing else after that.

Paul Skenes dials it up to 102 to get his 8th strikeout of the day. ???? pic.twitter.com/LukBwwRu7Y

— MLB (@MLB) June 23, 2024

The only run support that Skenes got was a solo home run from Bryan Reynolds.

Bryan Reynolds is SCORCHING in June.

He has a 20-game hitting streak and 3 homers in his last 4 games. ???? pic.twitter.com/ZgbYn2WYiD

— MLB (@MLB) June 23, 2024

When Skenes passed the baton to Colin Holderman for the eighth, the game was tied 1-1, and the Pirates could only boast three hits.

Holderman then allowed two runs in the eighth, and the Pirates lost the game 3-1.

“All I want to do is get in there and keep it going and give us a chance to win the ball game,” Holderman said. “(Skenes) pitched his heart out, especially in the first inning. He had some traffic and just dialed it in. That speaks to his maturity, especially for his age. He did his job.”

Holderman was saddled with the loss. For the most part, however, he has been very good this year. The two earned runs the right-hander allowed were his first since May 31, and his ERA for the season is still at a minuscule 1.30.

The lineup, though, was as punchless as it normally is, getting just seven men on base via three hits and four walks.

It was also a lineup that didn’t feature Andrew McCutchen, Connor Joe or Nick Gonzales. Among qualified players on the roster, those are three of the top five bats on the team when it comes to OPS. All three eventually got in the game as pinch hitters. But with them on the bench to start the game, manager Derek Shelton went with a batting order that had Edward Olivares, Jared Triolo, Jack Suwinski, Yasmani Grandal and Michael A. Taylor.

None of them could boast a batting average above .225 heading into the game. Suwinski (.170), Grandal (.184) and Taylor (.192) are all below .200. For the game, those five hitters went a combined 1 for 14.

That’s ridiculous, regardless of who is on the mound for a given game. But on a day when Skenes is pitching, especially at home, don’t you want to pencil in the best possible lineup behind him?

The Pirates don’t have a lot of days when they are going to take the field with a clear-cut advantage. However, once every five days, with Skenes pitching they will, so they should attempt to maximize every opportunity they have to get wins on those days.

Taking the field with McCutchen, Gonzales and Joe on the bench is doing nothing to help that cause.

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Shelton defended the lineup and said that he can’t make daily decisions on the batting order based solely around if Skenes or even Jared Jones are pitching.

“Cutch, we have to continue to monitor his days,” Shelton said. “We have to get (Reynolds) DH days. Bryan has played in every game. We have to make sure that he gets his rest too, because we have not sat him at all. He has been our best player, our best hitter. And we’ve got to get some guys going. We have some guys that were going offensively, and it has kind of tailed off. Sometimes giving them a little bit of blow to get them going is important.”

OK, but you don’t have to do that on a day when Skenes pitches against an equally mediocre Tampa Bay team. That’s a great chance to win a game and a series. Neither of which the Pirates did, thanks to the inept offense. It was painfully similar to how they frittered away the rubber game of a three-game set in St. Louis, 4-3, on a day when Shelton scribbled nearly an identical lineup.

In theory, I get where Shelton is coming from with those explanations as to why the Pirates did what they did Sunday. To his point, guys such as Joe and Gonzales have cooled off lately. And McCutchen hasn’t had a day off since that game in St. Louis. They are all right-handed, and a right-hander, Aaron Civale, was on the mound for Tampa.

But if they are being replaced by the likes of Olivares, Triolo, Suwinski, Taylor and Rowdy Tellez, what’s the difference? Why not wait a day to open the series in Cincinnati next week or have some foresight and rest those guys on Friday night of this series instead, when the Pirates opened it with a “bullpen game” as opposed to the ace of their staff?

As far as the Reynolds angle goes, understood. A day off his feet in the outfield makes sense. But are they so paranoid about McCutchen playing right field that they can’t try to get away with him there for nine innings on a day when Skenes pitches? Or wait until a different day to bench him and pencil Reynolds in as the designated hitter?

For his part, after the game, Reynolds said he appreciates the occasional DH day so he can just focus on hitting, but from a rest standpoint, it isn’t essential.

“My body is good,” Reynolds said. “I don’t need a DH day to recover. But it is always nice to be able to chill for half an inning.”

Well, the Tampa pitchers and fielders were chilling just about every half-inning themselves watching that impotent excuse for a Major League lineup Sunday.

And, unless general manager Ben Cherington makes some significant moves to help this roster, the Pirates will be chilling come early October as so frequently is the case.