A duel between the newest mustachioed young hotshot blazing into the majors and the Cardinals’ cagey, mustachioed veteran had both flirting with perfection early, both receiving an ovation later, and all of that excellence was before a single run scored.
One of the most riveting games of the season, pitting Pittsburgh rookie Paul Skenes opposite Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas and featuring a scene-stealing cameo by Nolan Arenado, came unraveled in the ninth inning.
There was no plot twist to the drama — though a catcher’s interference in the ninth sure did try — and no eye-popping ending.
The Pirates walked away with one.
A four-pitch walk to start the inning from closer Ryan Helsley and another walk to prolong it helped nudge the Bucs along to score two runs on productive outs and win, 2-1, on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.
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Through eight innings, the two National League Central rivals remained in a scoreless staring contest, trading strikeouts between starters, hits between All-Stars and one dazzling defensive play by one of the all-time greats. With the peeling of bells to harken his arrival in the ninth, Helsley (2-3) entered the 0-0 game and walked the No. 9 hitter. A single by Andrew McCutchen spurred the rally for the Pirates, who added two runs — one a ground out by Connor Joe and another on Oneil Cruz’s sacrifice fly. Two outs but two costly runs.
Through 8½ innings, there wasn’t a run scored by a hit in the game.
That came in the bottom of the ninth when Nolan Gorman hit his 15th homer of the season to halve the Pirates lead. The Cardinals got the tying run on base with two outs against closer David Bednar when he thought he ended with a strikeout. A challenge from the Cardinals dugout proved, no, catcher Yasmani Grandal’s mitt got in the way of the swing for a catcher’s interference.
The potential tying run went to second.
And no further as Bednar got a strikeout, no replay review needed.
In his ºüÀêÊÓƵ debut, Skenes pitched a career-best 6â…“ scoreless innings and struck out eight around allowing five walks. Mikolas edged him with seven shutout innings and six strikeouts. He allowed only one hit.
Arenado’s gold-plated, run-stealing play
If there is one at all, there won’t be many better plays made at third base in bigger moments this season than Arenado’s diving catch that he turned into a double play.
With his no-hit bid erased by a leadoff triple to open the seventh inning, Mikolas hit the next batter before settling back into the inning with a strikeout. That brought Ke’Bryan Hayes to the plate with runners at the corners, one out and a chance to break the scoreless tie with a ball in play or a fly ball to center field. He turned and drilled a liner down the third base line.
There to snare it was Arenado.
The 10-time Gold Glove Award winner dived to his right, reached and stole extra bases and an RBI from Hayes. Arenado then tapped third base to double-up the runner for the double play that ended the inning. The chef’s kiss on the sizzle-reel moment was who it came against: Hayes, the third baseman who won last year’s Gold Glove at the position to end Arenado’s decade-long platinum-plated grip on the position.
Mikolas flawless through 5, no-no till 7
Matching the Bucs rookie zero for zero, Mikolas did Skenes one better by holding on to his perfect game far longer and plunging into the seventh with a zero in the most compelling column of them all.
Mikolas retired the first 16 batters he faced.
Only three of them got the ball beyond the reach of an infielder.
Riding momentum off his recent starts, Mikolas was at his best by challenging the Pirates in the zone, and when he got ahead, he turned the Bucs away. Through three innings and one time through the order, Mikolas had as many strikeouts as Skenes, with three. It took Mikolas 52 pitches to complete five innings, and when his perfect start ended with a walk in the sixth, he promptly got two outs to reach the seventh. The hit that broke up the no-hitter was Bryan Reynolds’ ricochet off the center field wall — just as the hit did back in 2022 when Mikolas came one out shy of a no-hitter against the Pirates.
1st glimpse of Skenes
Pirates rookie sensation Skenes began the game as advertised, as he’ll spend most of his career.
He blistered a 100 mph fastball for a strike.
His next two pitches left his fingers at 99 mph and 100 mph.
The fireballer’s ºüÀêÊÓƵ debut was lit.
For the 15th time, the Cardinals faced a pitcher who had been the first pick overall, and four times, that No. 1-picked pitcher has been a Pirate. But it took years after their draft for Kris Benson (1996’s first pick), Bryan Bullington (2002) and Gerrit Cole (2011) to deliver their first fastballs against the Cardinals. Skenes did it within 12 months of starting for LSU in the College World Series. In June 2023, Skenes was the Most Outstanding Player for the championship Tigers in Omaha. In June 2024, he was Busch Stadium showing how quickly his stuff plays at the highest level.
He began his game facing another candidate for the National League Rookie of the Year, .306-hitting Masyn Winn. Skenes delivered three pitches at 99 mph or swifter before getting Winn to watch an 83 mph curveball for a strikeout. Alec Burleson pulled a 100 mph fastball well foul into the seats adjacent to right field, then Skenes got him swinging at an 84 mph curveball. Skenes seesawed between velocities throughout his first three perfect innings and would drop in his “splinker†in the low 90s for whiffs, too.
When he struck out Winn to start the fourth inning, Skenes was perfect through 10 batters, just as Mikolas would be.
And then it was back to Burleson.
Burleson vs. Skenes, Rounds 2 & 3
Ahead of the pitch at 100 mph in his first at-bat, Burleson saw three more pitches at 99 mph to begin his at-bat in the fourth inning.
When Skenes turned to the curve — as he did to end their first-inning bout — Burleson was ready and lashed it to center for the game’s first hit. Twenty-two batters had come to the plate, and 22 had gone back to the dugout without reaching first base before Burleson’s single in the fourth.
Burleson was stranded at first.
Given that the Pirates have at least five more years of control with Skenes and the Cardinals have at least four beyond this year with Burleson, they’re going to see plenty of each other in the cozy NL Central during the coming years. Like McCutchen and Adam Wainwright did, or Homer Bailey and Matt Carpenter did.
In their third meeting of the evening, Burleson got even deeper into the count and saw more of Skenes’ repertoire. The right-hander started off the left-handed batter with two curves. Burleson fouled off one.
Burleson fouled off a 98.5 mph fastball.
Skenes went to an 87.6 mph change-up. Burleson fouled it off too.
On the seventh pitch of the bat, with the count stalled at 1-2 by all the fouls, Skenes went back to where he started — the curveball. Burleson singled to right field. He again did not get past first.
Skenes powers through traffic
The first hit off Skenes’ fastball came in the fifth inning when Arenado lifted one to center. Brendan Donovan followed with a single, and what had been a perfect game for Skenes through three innings was now a perfect opportunity in the fifth for the Cardinals.
Or, was.
Skenes snapped a curveball past designated hitter Carpenter to regain control of the inning and then sped a 99 mph fastball past Pedro Pages for a strikeout and the second out. Almost as quickly as the Cardinals had two on and a chance they had two out and little chance. Michael Siani grounded out to end the inning, and Skenes pressed on, matching Mikolas zero for zero and appearing the seventh for the first time in his young career.