PITTSBURGH — Back from the All-Star break and his turn as one of the game’s brightest rising talents, Pirates sensation Paul Skenes was greeted by two new experiences thanks to the Cardinals.
He pitched into the ninth inning for the first time in the majors.
And he lost.
Alec Burleson assured he would be the final batter Skenes faced Tuesday night at a buzzing PNC Park when he laced an RBI single in the top of the ninth to break a tie and send the Cardinals to a 2-1 victory. Skenes (6-1) had been unbeaten — and at times unchallenged — in his first 11 starts in the majors, but the Cardinals found a recipe to pull it off. They got a solo homer from Nolan Arenado, a timely line drive from Burleson, five shutout innings from their veteran gunslinging starter Lance Lynn and a dominant ninth from Ryan Helsley to ace one of Skenes’ finer starts, too.
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Helsley stuck out the side in the ninth with the one-run lead to secure his 33rd save. Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez earned his first MLB win after a scoreless inning of work in the eighth.
Skenes exited the first half with seven no-hit innings vs. Milwaukee, and Arenado dented the young right-hander’s scoreless habit with a solo homer to lead off the fifth inning. Arenado drilled a curveball from Skenes over the left field wall for his 10th homer of the season, the eighth the Bucs’ budding ace has allowed this year. In a game that featured Lynn’s 2,000th career strikeout, Arenado’s 100th home run as a Cardinal was the only run for the first 7½ innings.
That lead evaporated in the eighth when Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz doubled and scored on Nick Gonzales’ single against lefty JoJo Romero.
When Skenes came out to start the ninth inning, the Cardinals conjured another rally, with a little help from replay. Michael Siani flipped a base hit to left field and raced to get into scoring position. Siani was initially ruled out at second base, but the Cardinals challenged the call, which was quickly overturned — Siani had slid in ahead of and under the tag. Two batters later, Burleson lined a single over the second baseman’s head for the go-ahead RBI, his 60th of the season.
The win assured the Cardinals they’ll leave Pittsburgh ahead of the Pirates in the National League Central Division. With their young star on the mound, Pittsburgh (51-50) had a chance to Tuesday to match the Cardinals (53-48) in the standings.
2nd look at Skenes
In his first start since leading the National League into the All-Star Game as the fifth rookie ever to start the Midsummer Classic, Skenes encountered something new to start the second half. Not since his first two starts had he faced a team for a second time, and it would be his first time giving the Cardinals that second look.
It started out looking a lot like the first.
Unbeaten in 11 starts, Skenes pitched 6⅓ scoreless innings June 11 at Busch Stadium but didn’t factor into the decision. An ovation from the crowd of 32,422 — up from Monday’s 18,970 — welcomed Skenes out for the ninth inning of the 1-1 game. Some of the Cardinals would be getting their fourth look of the evening at the rookie right-hander.
“It would be good to see adjustments,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “It’s one thing when you see someone for the first time who has electric stuff. It’s going to be good to see our guys already have a basis for seeing it and adjustments made and how we come out of this second one. Good pitcher, man. There’s no secret to that. He mows through a lot of different lineups. Our guys are up for the challenge.”
Skenes sizzled through his first look at the Cardinals lineup. He did not allow a ball out of the infield, retiring five of the first six batters he faced on ground balls. The other he struck out. That at-bat offered a snapshot of what the Cardinals were dealing with.
Skenes started Willson Contreras with fastballs at 99.3 mph and 99.9 mph.
Both of them were called strikes.
Down 0-2 in the count, Contreras took a 99.6 mph fastball for a ball and fouled off a 100.2 mph fastball to stay in the batter’s box. Four pitches into his at-bat, Contreras had yet to see a pitch slower than 99 mph, and then came the slider, at 86.3 mph. Contreras struck out.
Skenes seesawed through velocities and the Cardinals lineup until Arenado tagged the curveball to open the fifth inning. Skenes responded by striking out the next three batters on his way toward the ninth inning and eight strikeouts in the game.
Lynn joins 2K club
Almost as soon as he tossed the baseball into the crowd, Cardinals catcher Contreras appeared to realize its significance.
The four-seam fastball that had just passed by a bat and nestled in his mitt was the 2,000th strikeout of Lynn’s career. Lynn entered Tuesday’s game needing two whiffs to become the sixth active pitcher in that club and the 88th pitcher all time. The strikeout was his 1,013th as a Cardinal, and he is currently sixth in franchise history.
Fittingly, it was a fastball that finished off Pirates third baseman Jared Triolo for the milestone. In the game, as in his career, Lynn threw predominantly fastballs, and nearly half of his 86 pitches were four-seamers.
“His competitive nature has allowed him to really accomplish cool things in this game,” Marmol said before the game. “And we’re two strikeouts away from another one. I played with him in 2008 (in the Cardinals minor league system) — as fiery as you can imagine and just didn’t care what anybody thought other than him taking the ball and shoving. He’s taking that mentality to a lot of teams over the past decade. And it’s served him well.”
Back with the Cardinals, he’s been as advertised.
The last of the starters to make his first second-half start, Lynn bulldozed through the Pirates lineup. He pitched around a single in the first inning. He left the bases loaded in the second inning after an infield single caromed off him. After that ball skipped off him, the burly right-hander retired the next seven consecutive Pirates. That included striking out Gonzales for K No. 1,999, and then, to close out the fourth, getting Triolo.
Walking off the field for the inning, Contreras lobbed the ball into the crowd — and then almost immediately asked for it back. A Pirates fan tossed Lynn’s memento back toward the Cardinals dugout, and as a thank you, Contreras handed a bat to the fan.
King’s growing prominence
If Monday’s assignment in the eighth inning of a tie game didn’t give it away, Tuesday’s appearance by John King in the sixth with a one-run lead sure did.
King, the ground ball-getting lefty, has continued to ascend into one of the higher-leverage spots for the Cardinals. Marmol sought to give the Pirates a different look Monday night by calling on King in a tight spot ahead of usual lefty setup man Romero. One of the league leaders in holds this season, Romero has only one strikeout over the past 28 days, and the last time he faced the Bucs at PNC Park, he allowed extra-inning hits and the walk-off run.
On Monday, King got the ground balls, but he also delivered the wild pitch that moved the winning run into scoring position. On Tuesday, he authored a zero.
In relief on Lynn, King pitched a scoreless sixth inning with two groundouts. The Cardinals continued to reveal their confidence in him by sticking with him to start the seventh despite Pittsburgh going to right-handed batter Connor Joe as a pinch hitter. The Pirates did not have a left-handed bat on the bench, almost inviting the Cardinals to turn immediately to one of their late-inning right-handers. They did not. King got the ground ball from Joe, but it threaded through two fielders for a single — the only base runner King allowed.
Andrew Kittredge, the Cardinals’ leading setup man, entered and promptly coaxed a double play to erase the inherited runner and keep King’s outing scoreless.
Lynn escapes bind
In his final inning, Lynn had to wiggle free of his most challenging inning.
Pirates center fielder Jack Suwinski opened the fifth with a double. That already meant that every at-bat to follow was likely to happen with a runner in scoring position, and Lynn added to the degree of difficulty with a walk and a wild pitch before he could get a third out.
With Suwinski batting eighth, the top of the Pirates order came back around for a third look at Lynn and a chance to answer Arenado’s homer.
Lynn slightly defused the inning by getting leadoff hitter and former MVP Andrew McCutchen to pop up to first base.
He aggravated the inning by walking the next two batters.
With the bases loaded and Monday’s game-winning hitter up, Lynn challenged Gonzales with three consecutive cutters. Gonzales chopped the third one into a meek ground ball that barely had enough gusto to get out of the dirt around home plate. Contreras rushed to pounce on the grounder and whip a throw to first that beat Gonzales for the final out and avoided a tie game. The Pirates sent five batters to the plate with a runner in scoring position and did not nudge home a run against Lynn.