Soroka on short end of pitchers' duel against Skenes, Pirates

PHOENIX -- One pitch. One stinking pitch. One changeup on the outer edge of the plate that Brandon Lowe managed to drive to center field for a home run.

One pitch that you can't even really say was a mistake was all the damage that Michael Soroka would give up in his 6 1/3 innings of work, but when you're facing Paul Skenes on a night when he has everything working, well, that can end up being the difference.

Lowe's homer was the only offense that either team could muster Wednesday night at Chase Field as the Pirates beat the Diamondbacks, 1-0.

Skenes, who won the NL Cy Young Award last year and opened the year as the odds-on favorite to win it again, showed why he is so good. The right-hander mixed his four-seam fastball with a splitter, sweeper and sinker to keep Arizona hitters guessing all night long.

"When he's on like that, it's just really hard," Diamondbacks third baseman Nolan Arenado said.

Arenado had one of the Diamondbacks’ only two hits on the night and the only one that was hit solidly. The other was an infield single by Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

"Oh, boy," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said as he sat down for his postgame press conference. "Paul Skenes showed why he's one of the best pitchers in baseball. He went out there and executed a game plan. He wasn't just relying on his fastball. He was mixing pitches. It looked like the changeup was in play in any part of any count. And we just got beat. We got beat by a really good pitcher."

No one wants to lose or is happy about losing, but it was hard for the Diamondbacks to find fault with any aspect of their game.

Soroka gave up the home run to Lowe, but then made an adjustment after the first inning and shut the Pirates down.

"[Runs] are going to be hard to come by when you face a pitcher like him, and I just wanted to keep the team in it and give us a chance," Soroka said.

The defense -- from Alek Thomas running down a drive at the warning track in left-center to Ketel Marte firing a strike to cut down a run in the seventh inning -- was on point.

After Soroka left the game, the bullpen threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings, which gave the Diamondbacks a puncher's chance heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Skenes, who did not walk a batter while striking out seven, was removed after eight innings with his pitch count sitting at 97.

Even though the man who relieved him, left-hander Gergory Soto, is having a great year, the Diamondbacks felt better about their chances in the ninth facing anyone but Skenes.

A one-out walk by Geraldo Perdomo gave Arizona hope, but Soto got Ketel Marte to fly out and Corbin Carroll to ground out to end the game.

"We have a great offense, so for [Skenes] to do that to us, I think it just shows you that it was just his day," Arenado said. "Just all the pitches he throws, they're all elite. It felt like his fastball was really lively today, but the changeup was also really good. I mean, everything, his slider was sweeping a lot. He just throws everything and they're all elite pitches, and he had it today."