PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes was knocked around by the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night, allowing a career-high five runs in a 5-3 loss at frigid PNC Park.
Skenes (1-1), who was electric in his first two starts this season, was spotty this time around. The 22-year-old reigning National League Rookie of the Year allowed six hits with a walk and seven strikeouts as his ERA more than doubled from 1.46 to 3.44.
Victor Scott II had two hits, including a two-run triple off Skenes in the third. Brendan Donovan had two hits for St. Louis and followed Scott’s first-career three-base hit with an RBI single that put the Cardinals up 3-0.
Sonny Gray (2-0) breezed through five innings for St. Louis, surrendering just one run and three hits. Gray’s only mistake came on a sinker to Bryan Reynolds in the fourth that the designated hitter sent into the right-field seats for his second homer this season.
The Cardinals extended the lead to 5-1 in the sixth on an RBI single by Alec Burleson and a run-scoring groundout by Pedro Pages. Phil Maton picked up his first save when he got Tommy Pham to line out to right to end it as the Cardinals won for just the second time in eight games.
With a game-time temperature of 38 degrees and a wind chill that dipped into the 20s, Skenes seemed primed for another dominant performance when he raced through the first two innings.
Instead, three of the first four batters in the third reached and all three scored on a night that Skenes was more hittable than usual while throwing 63 of his 98 pitches for strikes.
Andrew McCutchen’s run-scoring groundout in the ninth made him the 221st player in major league history to with 1,100 RBIs.
Key moment
Scott, who played at West Virginia University about an hour south of PNC Park, had the small crowd of 8,291 let out a collective groan when he hit a soaring drive to the right-center gap that provided substantial proof Skenes was a little more hittable than usual.
Key stat
0-3. Skenes’ record in his brief career against the Cardinals.
Up next
The series continues on Tuesday. Mitch Keller (1-1, 7.45 ERA) starts for Pittsburgh against Cardinals right-hander Erick Fedde (1-1, 7.00).