Billed as a matchup between the Nationwide League’s finest arms, Friday evening’s pitchers duel lived as much as expectations.
Enter 22-year-old flamethrower Paul Skenes. He grew up in Fullerton. He started his meteoric rise at close by El Toro Excessive.
Coming off his rookie of the 12 months marketing campaign, in his second begin at Dodger Stadium, the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander harnessed the “plus-plus stuff” — emphasised by his 99.4-mph first-inning strikeout of Freddie Freeman, dazzling curveballs and stand out “splinker” — that Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts marveled at earlier than the sport.
Skenes, the No. 1 choice within the 2023 draft, tossed 6⅓ scoreless frames to ship the Dodgers to a 3-0 loss on Friday evening. The Dodgers by no means drummed up run help for his or her ace, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, succumbing to a shutout for the second time and falling right into a three-game shedding streak for the primary time since final August.
“I think that he’s one of the best in the game,” Roberts stated about Skenes, who generated 18 swings and misses. “Tonight we really couldn’t muster much.”
Freeman hit Skenes’ solely mistake of the day — a dangling curveball over the middle of the plate — into the correct area nook for a double within the fourth inning. Freeman superior to 3rd on an error on the play, however being 90 toes away from residence didn’t matter. Skenes set the following three batters down.
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes will get high-fives within the dugout after throwing 6⅓ scoreless innings in opposition to the Dodgers on Friday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions)
Within the fifth inning, after Andy Pages reached on a double for the second time within the recreation, Skenes struck out Shohei Ohtani on a full-count curveball that despatched the Dodgers star right into a twisting, off-balance backswing and had Pirates catcher Henry Davis pumping his fist towards the mound in celebration.
Skenes, a spotlight for the struggling Pirates (11-16), merely walked again to the dugout — his efficiency was business-like, giving up 5 hits, whereas placing out 9 and strolling zero over 108 pitches. Roberts stated the Dodgers (16-10) wouldn’t be capable of “paper-knife” Skenes, pointing at how tough it’s to rally hits in opposition to the 6-foot-6 right-hander.
And Roberts was proper. Pages had three hits and Freeman two, however the Dodgers tallied only one extra in opposition to Skenes.. The Pirates bullpen gave up only one hit throughout the ultimate 2-2/3 frames.
“Certain nights, we just can’t put a complete ballgame together with starting pitching, hitting, timely hitting, all that stuff,” Roberts stated. “It just hasn’t been synced up.”
Michael Conforto, who ended the evening 0 for 4 with three strikeouts — two of which got here in opposition to Skenes — stated the Dodgers must stretch collectively a hitting run to get out of the staff’s funk — now 8-10 since beginning the season 8-0. Conforto is hitting .187 after hitting .237 for the Giants a 12 months in the past.
“We’ve definitely had our struggles,” Conforto stated, including that he believes hitting is contagious and that the lineup will start to rally. “There’s a lot of great hitters in this lineup. A lot of us haven’t gotten it going yet, and it’s only a matter of time before it all starts clicking.”
It wasn’t so way back that Yamamoto was in an identical place to Skenes.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani fails to attach on a pitch by Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes within the third inning at Dodger Stadium Friday.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Occasions)
Three days after he turned 19 years previous, the Orix Buffaloes thrust Yamamoto into big-league motion. Very like Skenes in Pittsburgh, his youth didn’t hinder his success — Yamamoto constructing a trophy case that included three Triple Crowns of pitching and three Sawamura awards (the Japanese equal of the Cy Younger) earlier than heading to the U.S.
“The bottom line is that he has shown to be the best pitcher in a particular league multiple times,” Roberts stated earlier than Yamamoto toed the mound.
However Yamamoto didn’t have his finest stuff in opposition to the Pirates. He struggled with command, issuing 4 walks for the primary time since Aug. 2, 2022 — in opposition to the Seibu Lions in Japan — and lasted 5 innings and 94 pitches (54 of which got here within the first two innings).
Roberts stated Yamamoto’s outing was “uncharacteristic,” pointing to the Japanese right-hander’s struggles with finding his fastball in opposition to Pirates — resulting in exhausting contact on get-me-over offspeed pitches such because the one Oneil Cruz lined for a 117.6-mph RBI single to make it a 2-0 lead within the fifth.
“I think tonight, overall, he just typically has great command and tonight he just wasn’t as pinpoint,” Roberts stated.
Each of Pittsburgh’s fifth-inning runs, nevertheless, had been unearned. Third baseman Max Muncy sailed a ball vast to first base after gathering a floor ball close to the foul line, enabling Davis to advance to second. Three hits later, the Pirates had been up three.
“In a game like this, there is a reason,” Yamamoto stated by an interpreter when requested about his command. “I was feeling I’m getting better, actually, as a matter of fact, in the early phase of the game. But today, I couldn’t bring it back to my normal stuff.”
Yamamoto nonetheless struck out 5 and saved the Dodgers within the contest regardless of being beneath his finest. His earned-run common rose just a few factors however remained at an NL-low 1.06, second to solely Texas Rangers right-hander Tyler Mahle.
Harm updates
Roberts stated the pitching employees “dodged a bullet” with Blake Snell’s newest harm replace. Snell, shut down from his throwing program Wednesday, underwent an MRI on Thursday morning — which got here again with no new findings of injury in his left shoulder.
Snell’s subsequent steps doubtless will embrace an injection, Roberts stated, earlier than he resumes a throwing program. Earlier than heading to the 15-day injured listing on April 6, Snell held a 1-0 document with a 2.00 ERAthrough two begins.
“I don’t know the extent of the length of time,” Roberts stated, “but just knowing that there’s no damage is certainly a big relief.”
Roberts additionally supplied updates on bullpen arms Blake Treinen and Michael Kopech. Treinen (low-grade proper forearm sprain) has but to start a throwing program, whereas Kopech (proper shoulder impingement) — who joined the Dodgers final 12 months in a trade-deadline take care of the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals — tossed a 30-pitch bullpen session Thursday and can do the identical Monday earlier than a possible minor-league rehab project.
