Paul Skenes Is Doing It Again and the Pirates Have Found Something Special

Paul Skenes flirted with history for the second straight start on Tuesday night, and at this point, we need to stop treating it like a surprise. The Pirates' ace carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Colorado, striking out 10 and allowing just two hits over eight scoreless innings to lead Pittsburgh to a 3-1 win at PNC Park.

This is the guy who won the National League Cy Young Award last year, and he's playing a different sport right now. Skenes improved to 6-2 and lowered his ERA to 1.98. He didn't walk a single batter for the fifth consecutive start. Think about that for a second. In back-to-back starts, he's gone eight innings with only two hits allowed, both times without giving up a run. The hitless streak lasted 6 1/3 innings before Mickey Moniak looped a ball just out of the reach of a diving Oneil Cruz in center field. That's the kind of baseball you have to be paying attention to catch.

Pirates Get Minimal Help, Still Win

Here's the wild part: the Pirates only scraped together three runs. That's what Skenes is working with, and it's still enough. Nick Gonzales had two hits and an RBI, Spencer Horwitz chipped in two hits, and Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds each drove in a run. Colorado's starter Michael Lorenzen (2-5) gave up two runs on five hits across five innings, and that was enough for the Pirates to handle this one with ease.

Around the Diamond

The Rays kept punishing Toronto, improving to 5-0 this season against the Blue Jays with a 7-6 win in 10 innings. Taylor Walls knocked in the automatic runner to set up Jonathan Aranda's sacrifice fly that won it.

Atlanta's keeping pace as a powerhouse, improving to 29-13 with a 5-2 win over the Cubs. Mike Yastrzemski homered and drove in three runs, Austin Riley also went deep, and Dominic Smith went 4-for-4. The Braves combined for a one-hitter.

Minnesota's turned it around in a hurry. After losing 16 of 21, the Twins are on a three-game winning streak, beating Miami 3-0 behind Bailey Ober's complete-game shutout. Ober struck out seven and threw 64 of 89 pitches for strikes.

The Yankees stopped the bleeding with a 6-2 win in Baltimore, with Paul Goldschmidt and Trent Grisham going deep to build an early lead.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.