Dodgers score early against Paul Skenes as Pirates suffer 6th consecutive loss

Paul Skenes won the big-on-big matchups against Los Angeles Dodgers stars Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman. It was Teoscar Hernandez and Gavin Lux who gave the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie phenom fits.

Hernandez became the first player to hit Skenes’ signature splinker for a home run in a three-hit game, and Lux had two hits and three RBIs as the Dodgers rolled to a 4-1 win Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.

“I’m not going to stop throwing it,” Skenes said of Hernandez’s solo shot on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “I mean, he won the Home Run Derby this year, right? He won it for a reason, so you’ve got to tip your cap. I’m going to keep attacking guys with that pitch.”

It was the sixth consecutive loss for the Pirates (56-60), who have dropped eight of their past nine games. It marked the fifth time they have scored one run or fewer in support of Skenes, as they went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight despite nine hits.

After winning six of Skenes’ first seven starts, they have lost in five of his past eight. Skenes (6-2) allowed four runs on six hits and a walk while striking out eight in six innings, including Ohtani twice. Skenes threw 61 of his 91 pitches for strikes but never touched triple digits; in fact, he didn’t register any of the top five pitch velocities, which all belonged to Dodgers reliever Michael Kopech (3-8).

After Skenes struck out Ohtani in their first faceoff on June 4, the two-time AL MVP blasted his four-seam fastball for a two-run homer and a single off him in his next two at-bats. So Skenes stuck to splinkers and curveballs this time around.

“We learned our lesson last time,” Skenes said. “I just wanted to show him some different stuff.”

Making his first start in his native southern California, the 22-year-old Skenes started the first inning by making quick work of Ohtani, needing only two pitches to get a groundout to first. But Hernandez dropped a fly ball inside the right field line that bounced out of play for a ground-rule double. Lux hit a two-out double to the left-center gap to drive in Hernandez to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.

The Pirates missed a scoring chance in the third. The Dodgers won a challenge on a pickoff play on Michael A. Taylor at first base, only for Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Bryan Reynolds to follow with back-to-back singles before Oneil Cruz grounded out to end the frame.

The Dodgers increased their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the third, after Nick Ahmed singled to right and Hernandez to third on a soft bouncer to set up Lux’s two-run single to right.

Skenes struck out Ahmed on a slider and Ohtani on a curveball in the fifth, but Hernandez connected on a first-pitch splinker and drove it 427 feet to center for his 26th home run and a 4-0 Dodgers lead.

“I think it just shows how good the action is,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of the splinker, which drew five whiffs and four called strikes. “That one was a little flat. That one stayed up. … Teoscar was ready for it. I think it just shows how good of a pitch it is and how much weak contact that it allows that it hadn’t been hit for a homer through (14) starts.”

Skenes was unfazed by Hernandez’s homer.

“Good for him,” Skenes said. “I executed that pitch. It’s just that he’s a good hitter. It’s the first pop up I’ve given up on that pitch in my career, so tip your cap.”

Dodgers rookie right-hander River Ryan was removed from the game with two outs in the fifth with right forearm tightness with a 3-1 count against Taylor, who then doubled off lefty Alex Vesia. But Kiner-Falefa grounded out to third.

After Reynolds singled and Cruz drew a walk to start the sixth, the Pirates had runners on first and second with no outs when Joey Bart hit a line drive that third baseman Kike Hernandez leaped to snag. It robbed Bart of a double and preventing a pair of runs from scoring, as Rowdy Tellez popped up in foul territory and Bryan De La Cruz struck out to strand both runners.

“The play that Kike made in the sixth definitely changes the game,” Shelton said. “We’re in a situation where we’re 4-2 in the sixth with a runner on second and it changes the whole complexion of the game.”

The Pirates stranded two more runners in the seventh inning, after singles by Yasmani Grandal and Kiner-Falefa.

Ben Heller replaced Skenes in the seventh, only to load the bases on singles by Kevin Kiermaier and Ahmed and an intentional walk of Ohtani. But Heller escaped with three strikeouts, getting Hernandez looking at a cutter low and away, Freeman swinging at a fastball at the top of the zone and Lux swinging at a changeup in the dirt.

The Pirates finally scored with one out in the ninth, when Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a solo home run for his first extra-base hit since July 14 to cut it to 4-1.

After being swept at home by the San Diego Padres, the Pirates will attempt to avoid another sweep against the Dodgers on Sunday.

“These past two games, they beat us,” Shelton said of the Dodgers, who won the series opener, 9-5. “Coming into this series, we’ve been in every game. We’ve been right there. We’ve been a pitch or two away from winning the game. We’ve got to kind of rebound. We’re playing good teams and right now they’re beating us. We need a ball to fall. … And we’re going to get it. We’ve just got to keep going.”