PITTSBURGH, PA − By his standards, Pittsburgh Pirates ace pitcher Paul Skenes was beatable against the Cincinnati Reds, but Skenes has a pretty high standard.
Even when Skenes, the presumptive National League Cy Young Award frontrunner, allowed a career-high seven hits to the Reds, it still felt like he was in control.
Sure enough, Skenes was in control, and his gifted right arm allowed him to dance in and out of traffic on the bases throughout his Aug. 7 outing at PNC Park. Skenes had just one clean inning in the six that he tossed against Cincinnati, but still managed to blank the Reds as the Pirates won going away, 7-0. A crowd of 20,339 attended.
Skenes improved his standing in the ongoing Cy Young race as his ERA dipped below two, falling from 2.02 to 1.94 by the end of his seventh win of 2025 (7-8). He had eight strikeouts and no walks.
“He’s tough, man,” Cincinnati’s Gavin Lux said. “He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball for a reason. We had some hits. We just couldn’t string anything together or get that one big hit. He did a good job limiting damage and that’s why he’s one best pitchers in the game.”
On a night when NL wild card chasers, the New York Mets and San Diego Padres, were both idle, the Reds dropped back to 3.5 games behind New York, which holds the third wild card spot.
The Pirates got to Reds starter Brady Singer in a 35-pitch first inning, and plated three runs. Singer retired the first two Pirates batters and then allowed a home run, three consecutive walks and a two-run single before escaping the first.
Bryan Reynolds opened the scoring with a solo homer to left field, and Jared Triolo had the two-run single to make it 3-0. That was plenty for Skenes and the Pirates’ bullpen to work with, and they continued to build on their lead throughout the night.
“Obviously, not the first inning I wanted there, walking guys,” Singer said. “Got out of it. Tried to give us a chance there. Got through a quick second and just couldn’t get the command. Too many walks. Couldn’t get them to chase out of the zone. Didn’t really have command in the zone. Just kind of struggled all around.”
Singer lasted 3 2/3 innings. He was charged with four earned runs, six hits and four walks against two strikeouts.
“Eight pitches in, (Singer’s) got a couple outs,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “And then you look up at the end of the inning and he threw (35) pitches, so just really deep counts… Just seemed like it was a battle for him the whole night to throw the ball where he wanted to.”
After Reds starters Zack Littell and Andrew Abbott combined for 13 2/3 innings on Aug. 5 and Aug. 6, the Cincinnati relievers taxed by back-to-back bullpen games earlier in the week appeared to be back in line with a more normal workload.
The bullpen was taxed again in the series opener against the Pirates. Francona deployed four relievers (Sam Moll, Luis Mey, Brent Suter and Yosver Zulueta), but Zulueta eating the final two innings helped the relievers manage the night.
While the night belonged to Skenes, Francona was still generally pleased with his team’s discipline against him. After all, Cincinnati hit Skenes as much and as well as any team had in his young career.
The Reds just couldn’t find the hit to break through against Skenes.
“I’d seen enough of (Skenes) on TV to know we had our hands full. We knew that,” Francona said. “I actually thought our guys did a pretty good job. We didn’t chase him around… Got a little stubborn and had some hits. Like a really good pitcher, he made really good pitches when he needed to.”
On Friday, the Reds’ and Pirates probable pitchers are Chase Burns (0-3, 6.04 ERA) and Mitch Keller (5-10, 3.89 ERA) for the scheduled 6:40 p.m. first pitch.
The Reds are 5-16 over their last 21 games at PNC Park, and 1-3 at the Pirates’ home stadium in 2025.