Cardinals bash Paul Skenes in career-worst start

The St. Louis Cardinals got the bats going against the Pittsburgh Pirates Tuesday. St. Louis pummeled Pirates ace Paul Skenes, en route to a 5-3 victory at PNC Park.

It turned out to be the worst performance from Skenes in his Major League Baseball career.

“It’s not like they hit the ball into the river or anything like that,” Skenes said after giving up five runs, per ESPN. “They just found some holes and I got behind in some counts and kind of let them get good swings off. Not going to sweat it. It is what it is.”

In 26 MLB starts, Skenes had never allowed five runs in an outing. That run is now over, as the Pirates fell to 4-8 on the year following a cold game in Pittsburgh.

The Cardinals are looking to stop a skid. St. Louis had lost six of their last seven games, before the victory over Skenes.

The Cardinals got the offense going early against Paul Skenes

St. Louis scored three runs in the third inning, to keep Skenes off-balance. The Pirates pitcher is mixing in some new pitches to his repertoire this season. The Cardinals attacked him throughout his outing Tuesday, working aggressively against him and grinding out singles that led to runs.

“We haven’t seen a lot of rough ones [from him],” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “But everything that has been on his plate, he’s handled very well. I expect him to come out the next time and be what we expect.”

This season, Skenes holds a 3.44 ERA after three starts. He has allowed seven runs, with five of them coming on Tuesday.

Skenes said his pitches struggled to hit the sweet spots around the plate.

“It’s funny, a lot of the times you get away with those,” Skenes said about throws that got to the middle of the plate. “Just didn’t get away with them today. Kind of is what it is.”

The Cardinals and Pirates play again on Wednesday afternoon. Following Tuesday’s win, St. Louis is now 5-6 on the campaign.