Pirates ride Paul Skenes' strong start, hot bats to beat Nationals, snap 3-game skid

Before the long-awaited showdown between the Nos. 1 and 2 selections of the 2023 MLB Draft ever materialized, the Pittsburgh Pirates superseded that storyline by making history.

When a Paul Skenes pitch hit James Wood and ricocheted off the right hand of Endy Rodriguez, it caused a laceration on Rodriguez’s ring finger that forced the Pirates catcher to be removed from the game. His replacement was 2021 No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis.

That gave the Pirates the first 1/1 battery in baseball history, providing the perfect formula to end a three-game losing streak.

Despite the disruption, the Pirates rode a strong bounce-back start by Skenes and a season-best 14 hits for a 10-3 win over the Washington Nationals on Monday night before 10,402 at PNC Park. It marked the first time the Pirates scored double-digit runs this season.

“I thought they did a good job,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I give Henry a ton of credit. You get thrown into the fire, right in the middle of an at-bat in the middle of a game, so I thought he did a really good job. I thought he was prepared, which does not surprise me that Henry was going to be prepared, even on a day when he was not starting.”

The Pirates used an aggressive approach to go 8 for 10 with runners in scoring position, as nine players got a hit and five had two apiece. The timing couldn’t have been better for a team that scored only five runs on 10 hits in being swept in three games at Cincinnati this past weekend.

“I’ll sign up for that every night,” Shelton said. “I’m just happy that we had eight at-bats with runners in scoring position coming off this weekend. I was very pleased, and I think it’s a credit to our players. They stuck with the approach the entire night.”

After giving up five earned runs for the first time in a 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on April 8, Skenes (2-1) quickly put the worst start of his pro career in the rearview mirror despite losing his starting catcher, perhaps for an extended period. Rodriguez required four stitches on his ring finger and is likely headed for a stint on the injured list.

Skenes shined with Davis behind the plate, as the 2024 National League rookie of the year allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits with six strikeouts and no walks over six innings while throwing 64 of his 99 pitches for strikes. The 6-foot-6 right-hander leaned on his four-seam fastball, getting 25 swings and seven called strikes on 48 offerings while averaging 98.1 mph and touching 99.6.

“He can call a game. He can catch. He was prepared,” Skenes said of Davis, whose only times catching him came in Grapefruit League games in spring training. “It’s not a surprise. I’ve been with him for the better part of two years now. You want to see why he’s the type of player he is, you don’t have to look very far. He’s one of the most prepared players I’ve ever been around. For him to come into a tough situation, call the game and catch as well as he did says a lot about him.”

With Skenes throwing gas, Davis forced the Nationals to prove they could hit his fastball first. But it was a hard-breaking slider in the fifth that was Skenes’ most impressive pitch, as it got Paul DeJong swinging for a strikeout that caused the bat to slip out of his hands and sail down the third base line.

“He was great. He was really good,” Davis said of Skenes. “He executed his plan and did what he wanted to do and got us a win.”

The matchup against former LSU teammate Dylan Crews, selected by Washington one pick after Skenes, soon became an afterthought. Skenes got Crews to ground out in his first two at-bats.

Although Skenes was charged with two throwing errors on pickoff attempts where first baseman Enmanuel Valdez missed low throws, the Pirates right-hander allowed only two baserunners through the first five innings. Aside from Wood being hit by a pitch, DeJong singled on a bloop to center that Oneil Cruz couldn’t corral.

The Pirates capitalized early against the Nationals to build Skenes a five-run cushion. Ke’Bryan Hayes got the scoring started in the first inning with an RBI single to drive in Andrew McCutchen for a 1-0 Pirates lead. They padded it in the third, when Cruz doubled and scored on a single to left by Bryan Reynolds to make it 2-0.

The Pirates stretched their lead to 5-0 with a three-run fifth. Tommy Pham drew a leadoff walk, Adam Frazier singled and both runners advanced into scoring position on a sacrifice by Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

Lefty Colin Poche replaced Brad Lord, but Cruz singled to load the bases and Pham scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Reynolds. After McCutchen drew a walk to load the bases again, Valdez hit a two-run single to right for a 5-0 lead.

The Nationals prevented a shutout in the sixth, when Nasim Nunez hit a leadoff double and reached third when Hayes bobbled an Alex Call grounder. Skenes narrowly avoided disaster on the play while trying to cover third, slipping between Nunez and third base umpire Cory Blaser before tumbling into a somersault.

Wood hit into a force out at second that scored Nunez, then advanced to third when Skenes’ pickoff attempt skipped past Valdez and down the right field line. After McCutchen made a diving catch to rob Keibert Ruiz of an RBI, Nathaniel Lowe singled to left to score Wood to make it 5-2.

The Nationals added another run in the eighth against lefty Caleb Ferguson, as Nunez hit a leadoff single, advanced twice on groundouts to second and scored on a single to center by Ruiz to cut it to 5-3.

The Pirates responded with five runs in a five-hit eighth. It started with a leadoff single by Reynolds, who reached second on a wild pitch by Jackson Rutledge. When McCutchen drew a walk, the Nationals turned to Eduardo Salazar, but Valdez doubled down the right field line to drive in Reynolds, and Hayes followed with a two-run rope to left for an 8-3 lead. Pham singled to right to drive in Hayes, then scored on a single to center by Kiner-Falefa for a seven-run lead.

Once again, Skenes served as the stopper for the Pirates. This time, he hopes that it sparks the start of a run.

“That’s what I was trying to do,” Skenes said. “It’s good to get a win and hopefully start another streak here of a couple wins. We’ve got some good arms coming up, and I think the bats are coming alive, too. We’ll see. It’s hopefully going to be pretty exciting here.”