MLB's longest active battery streak ends at 51 straight starts
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MILWAUKEE -- For 51 consecutive starts, there was no mystery about who would be behind the plate when Paul Skenes took the mound.
That streak ended on Wednesday night.
For the first time since April 14, 2025, Endy Rodríguez -- not Henry Davis -- was Skenes' batterymate against the Brewers at American Family Field.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Davis catching each of Skenes’ previous 51 starts was the longest active pitcher-catcher streak in the Majors entering Wednesday. The next-closest active pairing is Houston’s Ronel Blanco and Yainer Diaz at 29 starts.
The decision wasn’t driven by injury or performance. Instead, Bucs manager Don Kelly said it was simply time to begin expanding Skenes’ comfort level with another catcher while rewarding Rodríguez’s recent offensive production.
“Just really trying to keep his bat in the lineup,” Kelly said. “He’s been really hitting the ball extremely well, and [we’re] finding some time to get Paul with Endy.
“I know he’s been with Henry for, I don’t even know how many starts in a row, but we need to start to mix it up a little bit and [I] felt like tonight was a good night to do that.”
Rodríguez has given the Pirates another reason to find him at-bats of late. He homered on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh’s 4-2 loss to Milwaukee, his first long ball since the All-Star break, and he was batting .296 (8-for-27) over his past seven games. He hit sixth on Wednesday.
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Kelly emphasized the move wasn’t made on a whim.
“We talked to Paul,” Kelly said. “It’s not something that we decided yesterday, either. A lot of planning went into it. So talking to Paul and talking to Endy and Henry, and just making a plan so that everybody’s on the same page going forward.”
The change came on one of the biggest stages of the Pirates’ season.
Wednesday’s nationally televised matchup featured two of the National League’s most intriguing clubs. Milwaukee (70-43) entered with MLB’s best record and the Majors’ fifth-highest-scoring offense (562 runs), while Pittsburgh (57-58) has transformed from last year’s lowest-scoring lineup into one of the Majors’ most productive attacks (tied for third with 584 runs).