PITTSBURGH -- Run support was a luxury tough to come by during Paul Skenes’ historic 2025 Cy Young Award-winning season.
In his 10 losses, the right-hander received a combined 11 runs from his offense. But this year’s lineup is a far cry from last season’s, and the team showcased that in a historic way on Monday night at PNC Park.
The Pirates’ bats erupted for 10 runs in the sixth inning alone in Pittsburgh’s 16-5 victory over the Nationals. It’s the most runs the Pirates have scored in an inning since at least 1974, and it matched the dominance of Skenes, who fired six innings of one-run ball. The 15 runs scored during his outing are the most he’s gotten in a game as a big leaguer.
“I told the guys after the game, ‘It makes it easy to pitch,’” said Skenes, who struck out six while walking just one. “Even if I’m not getting it while I'm in the game, being out there pitching and knowing that it's going to happen at some point makes it a lot easier to pitch.”
In the first inning, Skenes struck out James Wood and Luis García Jr. before giving up a home run to CJ Abrams. He made a little bit of history with the García K, becoming the first Pirates pitcher in the modern era to strike out 400 batters in his first 59 career starts.
The home run ended up being the lone hit Skenes allowed.
He bounced back with an 11-pitch, 1-2-3 second inning to help settle into his outing, worked around a two-out walk in the third inning and only needed seven pitches to get through the fourth. He ended up retiring the final 10 batters he faced and was pulled after the sixth inning having thrown 88 pitches (60 strikes).
Skenes has now allowed just three runs in his last 17 1/3 innings. His changeup was by far his most effective pitch, getting whiffs on 10 of the 19 times he threw it.
“He executed his game plan really, really well and filled up the zone and kept us in the game the whole time,” said catcher Henry Davis, who went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. “And then the bats erupted.”
They erupted all right.
The Pirates struck for four runs in the second inning to chase Nationals starter Cade Cavalli from the game after just 1 1/3 innings. Spencer Horwitz hit his first home run of the season in the third inning. In the sixth, Bryan Reynolds broke open the game with a three-run triple, and Ryan O’Hearn doubled him home a pitch later. Later in the frame, Oneil Cruz singled home a pair, and Brandon Lowe drilled an emphatic three-run homer to right field to put Pittsburgh ahead, 15-1. The Pirates picked up another run in the eighth.
A lot of guys are starting to click at the same time. One of those is Lowe, who became the first Pirates player to record five RBIs in back-to-back games. His six home runs -- three of them in the last two games – tie him for second across MLB, while he also raised his average to .278.
“The best way to describe it is that hitting is contagious,” Lowe said. “When multiple guys are going well, everybody is kind of itching to get up there and ready to go. It's kind of a tip to all the guys in here. Everybody's put their work in in the offseason, and now I think everybody is starting to see the rewards of everybody's hard work.”
Nine Pirates recorded a hit, and five had a multi-hit game. Seven drove in at least one run. Cruz, who ranks in the top 10 in MLB in hits (22), home runs (5), RBIs (16), batting average (.355), slugging percentage (.645) and OPS (1.074), went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and extended his hitting streak to 12 games. Reynolds went 3-for-4 with four RBIs.
“We have a very balanced lineup, and everybody puts a good at-bat together,” Skenes said. “It’s been fun to watch. I still don't feel like we're playing our best baseball yet, not that it's been bad, I just kind of think there's more in the tank.”