You know it’s a good day in baseball when even the most die-hard fans can set aside their team loyalties and appreciate some top-notch action on the diamond. Take Tuesday night’s showdown in St. Louis, for example.
Picture this: a fresh-faced rookie, Paul Skenes, steps onto the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates, facing off against the formidable Cardinals. Now, this isn’t just any rookie. Skenes, the top pick from LSU in 2023, is already making waves in the big leagues. And boy, did he bring his A-game to Busch Stadium.
With Skenes and Cardinals ace Miles Mikolas locking horns, it was a pitching masterclass from start to finish. These two hurlers went toe-to-toe for six intense innings, refusing to yield an inch to the opposing lineups. The result? A pitcher’s duel for the ages, where runs were as scarce as a sunny day in Seattle.
In the end, it was the Pirates who emerged victorious, edging out the Cardinals 2-1 in a nail-biter of a game. But hey, regardless of the final score, everyone in the ballpark could agree on one thing: they’d just witnessed some darn good baseball.
Paul Skenes standing ovation
Cardinals fans give Paul Skenes an ovation as he exits in the seventh inning pic.twitter.com/UV4TiWeYwx
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 12, 2024
When Skenes strutted off the mound in the seventh inning, you could’ve sworn the cheers were echoing straight out of PNC Park. The St. Louis faithful rose to their feet, showering the Pirates’ rising star with well-deserved applause as he made his way back to the dugout. After yet another stellar performance, it was clear that Skenes had earned his stripes in the hearts of baseball fans everywhere.
The Cardinals, try as they might, simply couldn’t crack the code of Skenes’ pitching brilliance. The Pirates’ flamethrower unleashed 6.1 innings of shutout baseball, scattering five hits while punching out eight batters and refusing to issue a single free pass. Talk about painting the corners with style!
Skenes was in the zone right from the get-go, flirting with perfection until St. Louis outfielder Alec Burleson finally broke through with a single in the fourth inning. But even that lone hit couldn’t dampen the glow of Skenes’ stellar outing.
With this gem of a performance, Skenes managed to shave his season ERA down to a dazzling 2.43. It’s the kind of consistency that dreams are made of, with the young gun tallying his second six-inning shutout effort in just six starts. And check out those strikeout-to-walk numbers: a jaw-dropping 46 Ks to a mere six walks over 33.1 innings. Now that’s what we call painting the black!
As for his pitch count, Skenes was a model of efficiency, leaving the game in the seventh inning after a season-high 103 pitches. It’s only the second time this season that he’s breached the triple-digit mark, with his previous high clocking in at 100. But hey, when you’re dealing like Skenes, every pitch is worth its weight in gold.
Miles Mikolas stats
It seems like Monday night was a showdown of the titans, with both Skenes and Mikolas dishing out some serious heat on the mound.
Mikolas, the seasoned veteran for the Cardinals, was dealing from the first pitch. He had the Pirates scratching their heads, taking a perfect game into the sixth inning. The tension was palpable, but eventually, he relinquished perfection with a walk to Pirates’ DH Rowdy Tellez. Still, Mikolas wasn’t ready to surrender a hit just yet; it took until the seventh inning for Bryan Reynolds to break through with a triple off him.
Even with that lone hit, Mikolas’s stat line was a thing of beauty. After seven innings of masterful pitching, he left the game with just one hit, no runs, six strikeouts, and a single walk. Despite his stellar performance, Mikolas, like Skenes, didn’t factor into the final decision. But hey, when you’ve got pitchers dealing like this, it’s the kind of game that keeps fans on the edge of their seats until the very last out.
