Tim Benz: Get Paul Skenes some offensive help ... or just let him hit for himself

We’ve found something Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes can’t do.

Be his own offense.

Actually, based on some of his hitting numbers as a college batter, theoretically, he could do exactly that.

Certainly more effectively than many of the guys who were in the lineup to “support him” Tuesday night.

Skenes had another brilliant outing in his magical rookie season against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park. The former No. 1 overall pick yielded just two runs in 8 ⅓ innings, striking out eight batters while giving up just four hits and no walks. Yet the Cards managed to win 2-1 against a quickly regressing Pirates lineup.

“He threw the ball really well. He made two bad pitches in the whole game,” manager Derek Shelton said after Skenes’ loss, the first of his major league career after a 6-0 start.

Those two bad pitches were a breaking ball that Nolan Arenado hit over the left field fence and an 0-2 fastball that Alec Burleson shot into right field for the eventual game-winning RBI in the ninth inning.

Nolan Arenado provides a souvenir for the fans in Pittsburgh! pic.twitter.com/RzrOpeeyem

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) July 23, 2024

ALEC BURLESON! pic.twitter.com/K3oDscPeqe

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) July 24, 2024

Given the way the Pirates have protected Skenes’ pitch count and inning total, the 32,422 in attendance roared with approval every time the big right-hander came out of the dugout in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to keep his outing going.

That was a departure for Shelton who has pulled Skenes twice already this season while he was in the midst of a no-hitter.

“I felt good,” Skenes said of taking the hill in the ninth. “The complicated thing there is, when I came out of no-hitters in the sixth or seventh inning, the reason is that I had some longer innings. Those (innings on Tuesday) were relatively quick. Low-stress, low-pressure innings. It kind of allowed me to keep going.”

Perfect frames in the sixth, seventh and eighth helped Skenes in that regard. What didn’t help was his own offense. The Pirates didn’t post a run until Nick Gonzales singled home Oneil Cruz in the eighth to tie the game at 1-1.

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Skenes has gotten spotty run support over his first 12 MLB starts. In his first five outings, the Pirates scored between six and 10 runs. They also dropped 14 on the New York Mets back on July 5.

But in Skenes’ other six starts, the Pirates have managed just 1.67 runs per game.

“There is less room for error, for sure,” Skenes said. “You look at that outing against the Dodgers (a 10-6 Pirates win on June 5), where they scored seven runs in the first two (innings), it’s easier to pitch there. The goal there is more to give us length because the margin for error is a lot greater. The margin for error (in games like Tuesday’s) isn’t quite as big. So I’ve just got to execute pitches a little bit finer.”

Skenes did just about everything he could on that front. Meanwhile, the Pirates stranded seven men on base and managed just Gonzales’ RBI in six at-bats with runners in scoring position.

As of Sunday morning, the Pirates had 81 runs in July, the fifth most in MLB for the month at that time. But in the four games since then, the Bucs’ bats have slipped back into the dormant mode we witnessed the first three months of the season. Over their past three games, the Pirates have lost 2-1 and 6-0, while scratching out a 2-1 win over the Cardinals Monday night.

In fact, dating back to Saturday’s 4-1 win over Philadelphia, the Pirates have come to bat 34 times. They have failed to score in 29 of those innings.

“It’s frustrating,” Shelton said. “We have to capitalize. When we have the bases loaded, we have to have better swings. We didn’t. That ultimately ended up being the deciding factor in the game.”

Now more than ever, the case is clear that general manager Ben Cherington needs to get his team some offensive help before the trade deadline on July 30.

With one more game remaining against the Cardinals on Wednesday and nine against Arizona and San Diego over the next three weeks, that’s 10 contests against immediate competition in the National League wild-card race.

Despite dropping two of their past three, the Pirates are only 1 ½ games out of the final playoff spot. Yet they’ve managed to lose four times in games that Skenes has started. The scores of those last three defeats have been 3-1 and 2-1 twice. Not to mention a 1-0 win in Milwaukee.

Get Skenes some help. He and the rest of the starting pitching staff have earned it.

If not, at least let Skenes start hitting for himself.