Paul Skenes came tantalizingly close to a no-hitter for the second straight start, striking out 10 and allowing just two hits over eight scoreless innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the visiting Colorado Rockies 3-1 on Tuesday night.
The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner (6-2) kept the Rockies hitless until the seventh inning, when Mickey Moniak looped a ball that dropped just beyond the reach of a diving Oneil Cruz in center field. Skenes had a perfect game through 4 2/3 innings until he hit Troy Johnston on the foot, but catcher Henry Davis quickly erased the baserunner by throwing out Johnston trying to steal second.
Pirates closer Gregory Soto faced ninth-inning trouble after allowing a pinch-hit double to Jordan Beck and an RBI double to Hunter Goodman with two outs. However, he induced a groundout from TJ Rumfield to secure his fourth save of the season.
Skenes has now delivered back-to-back starts of eight scoreless innings, yielding only two hits in each outing. He hasn’t allowed a run in four of his last five starts, lowering his ERA to 1.98, and has not walked a batter for five consecutive starts. The right-hander looked sharp from the outset, striking out the first six batters he faced.
Although Cruz couldn’t preserve the no-hit bid with his dive, he continued to break out of his recent slump by collecting three hits and scoring twice. Cruz hit a pair of doubles off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen (2-5), who allowed two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five over five innings.
Johnston doubled off Skenes with one out in the eighth inning for Colorado, which lost its third straight game. Skenes bounced back by inducing a flyout from Will Castro and a groundout from Ezequiel Tovar.
Pittsburgh’s Nick Gonzales had two hits and an RBI, while Spencer Horwitz also collected two hits. Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds each drove in a run.
