A couple of one-ones, former top overall draft picks Paul Skenes and Henry Davis, led the Pirates to a win last night over the Blue Jays. Joe Block has the recap.
Davis doubled in the 7th inning and later scored on a wild pitch to break a 2-2 tie, following up an inning later with a sacrifice fly as the Bucs won, 5-2. Spencer Horwitz had two hits for the Pirates and Jared Triolo walked three times.
Manager Donnie Kelly says Paul Skenes is an amazing pitcher who came back strong after a rough outing last week in Milwaukee.
Kelly says the Pirates are playing competitive baseball.
Skenes overcame a rough patch in the third inning, but he says this is the big leagues and you have to give credit to the hitters.
The game featured a benches-clearing incident in the seventh inning when Tommy Pham walked and flipped his bat in front of Jays’ catcher Tyler Heineman, a former Pirate. Pham started toward first but stopped and walked back towards Heineman, who was questioning home plate umpire Mark Ripperger. Things quickly calmed down. Toronto manager John Schneider had already been ejected earlier in the game for arguing balls and strikes.
Game two of the series is tonight at PNC Park. Mitch Keller [5-11, 4/13 ERA] goes for the Pirates against veteran three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer [3-2, 3.83 ERA]. Airtime is 6:15 with the first pitch at 6:40 on WCCS.
