From his first pitch to his 100th, Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes was in complete control Friday in his second major-league start, capping it by striking out Mike Tauchman on a foul tip off a 100 mph fastball as the Cubs limped to a 9-3 loss.
The Cubs struck out 11 times and didn’t manage a hit against Skenes in his six innings — unable to rattle him or force long at-bats like they did in their first game against him last Saturday.
Skenes’ performance elicited comparisons to Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout game for the Cubs in 1998. The 11 strikeouts were the most ever by a Pirates pitcher at Wrigley Field.
Cubs fans roared in the seventh when Christopher Morel singled on a fly ball to right to break up the no-hitter, but Skenes was already out of the game.
“[Skenes’] fastball command was pretty good today, and then he was able to tunnel that splitter/sinker, whatever he wants to call it, off of it but throw those really competitively,” Tauchman said. “When you’re dealing with somebody with that kind of velocity and they have command and they’re making you make split-second decisions, you know [they] did a good job.”
Skenes uses a splitter/sinker hybrid sometimes called a “splinker” — difficult because of its shape and velocity. The Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong said the pitch “looks like a changeup that moves 95.”
Skenes struck out the first seven batters, the third-longest streak by a rookie behind Jacob deGrom’s eight for the Mets in 2014 and Jim Deshaies’ eight for the Astros in 1986, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
“The split was really good, and the [fastball and splinker] were competitive every single time,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “There’s enough velocity difference on those two pitches that it makes it really difficult.”
Skenes averaged 99.3 mph on his fastball and 94.8 mph on his splitter, according to Baseball Savant. That velocity, combined with location, made for a long day for Cubs hitters, who have struggled lately, including being shut out twice this week against the Braves.
They finished with four hits Friday. Miguel Amaya hit his second home run of the year in the eighth, followed by Morel’s two-run double. But the offense was otherwise mostly quiet.
“[Skenes] got to make both his starts against us,” Crow-Armstrong said. “And just as we got to create a different game plan and alter ours, he got to do that to his. With all due respect, it’s baseball. I think he’s gonna get hit around at some point.”
