Pittsburgh Review

PITTSBURGH -- Paul Skenes was determined to pitch into the ninth inning, regardless of whether the Pirates scored in the eighth. The rookie phenom made it to the final frame for the first time in his Major League career but could not finish it. After the Pirates tied the game in the bottom of the eighth, Skenes allowed a game-deciding RBI single to Alec Burleson in the ninth, leading to a 2-1 Cardinals win on Tuesday at PNC Park.

Skenes showed dominance for most of the night, with a crowd of 32,422 chanting “MVP” as he entered for the ninth inning. "It was awesome, especially on a Tuesday night,” said Skenes. “Kind of just shows where we're at as a team, where the city's at. Just really, really cool. Obviously wish I could have finished it. It was a cool moment."

Despite his strong performance, Skenes’ record is no longer perfect. He allowed Nolan Arenado's home run off a first-pitch curveball in the fifth inning but managed quick outs that enabled him to enter the ninth with just 91 pitches.

"I felt good,” Skenes said. “The complicated thing there is when I come out with no-hitters or whatever in the sixth or seventh inning, the reason I'm coming out in the sixth or seventh at 100 pitches is because I had some longer innings. These were relatively quick. Low-stress, low-pressure innings kind of allowed me to keep going.”

Nick Gonzales singled home Oneil Cruz in the eighth to tie it up and give Skenes another chance. However, Ke’Bryan Hayes grounded into a double play two pitches later.

In an unfortunate turn during the ninth inning, Michael Siani nearly struck out but Grandal couldn’t hang onto a foul tip. "You can't teach that," manager Derek Shelton said regarding his catcher’s effort.

Siani drove a liner to left and appeared to be thrown out at second after Bryan Reynolds' throw; however, a successful Cardinals challenge reversed this call. Masyn Winn grounded out advancing Siani to third base before Burleson hit an RBI single off an 0-2 fastball.

“I mean he was strong,” Shelton said about keeping Skenes in for so long. “He was at 91 [pitches]. He's had a lot of rest. Did not see any fatigue out of him and stuff was still good.”

Skenes’ line remained impressive over his career-high 8 1/3 innings pitched: eight strikeouts with four hits and no walks allowed. According to OptaStats, he became the first rookie since 1901 to get at least 25 outs while allowing fewer than five hits without walking any batters and striking out eight in a losing effort.

Manager Derek Shelton attributed much of their loss more towards missed offensive opportunities: “I think key part was we had opportunities score didn’t get big hit...bases loaded twice...runner second no outs...key fact did not execute.”

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol commented on Pittsburgh's atmosphere: "The atmosphere here in Pittsburgh felt like playoff game."