Paul Skenes suffers career-worst outing against St. Louis Cardinals

In the United States, at PNC Park, Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes delivered a subpar performance in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, which took place on Tuesday night, April 7, 2025. Despite a promising start, where he managed to dominate through the first two innings, Skenes struggled in the third inning, allowing three runs to score. The Cardinals took advantage of his mistakes, leading to a total of five runs scored against him throughout the game, marking the worst outing of his young career, which now includes 26 starts in Major League Baseball. The game began with Skenes demonstrating his usual prowess by easily retiring the first six batters he faced. However, the tide turned when three of the first four batters in the third inning reached base, one of whom, Victor Scott II, hit a two-run triple. Following this, Brendan Donovan and Alec Burleson contributed to the Cardinals' scoring, with Burleson's RBI single helping to extend the Cardinals' lead to 5-1 by the sixth inning. Skenes’ struggle was further reflected by his statistics, allowing six hits and one walk while recording seven strikeouts, and his earned run average (ERA) grew significantly from 1.46 to 3.44 after this performance. Sonny Gray, the Cardinals' pitcher, showcased a robust performance of his own, giving up only one run in five innings, and leading the Cardinals to victory, only their second win in eight games. In addition, Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates accomplished a personal milestone, becoming the 221st player in Major League Baseball history to achieve 1,100 RBIs. Skenes, who recently transitioned to throwing a more expanded repertoire of pitches, including a two-seam fastball, was not disheartened after the loss. He reflected on the outing and noted that he simply missed his spots a couple of times, allowing the Cardinals to capitalize on his errors. Manager Derek Shelton expressed his confidence in Skenes, acknowledging that while this was a rough outing, the young pitcher has handled challenges well throughout his career so far. The game took place in frigid conditions, with a game-time temperature of 38 degrees and wind chill lowering it into the 20s. Skenes recognized that such weather conditions were not solely responsible for his performance, indicating that he was simply not at his best that night. The next game in the series is anticipated to take place on April 9, where Skenes is expected to bounce back against the Cardinals.