McCarthy's Homer Edges Skenes in a Pitcher's Duel
Paul Skenes struck out eight over six innings and still took the loss. One run was all Colorado needed, and Jake McCarthy provided it.
Colorado beat Pittsburgh 2-1 on June 21, 2026, in a game that came down to a single swing separating two quality starting pitching performances. Skenes went six innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs, and two walks while punching out eight. Tomoyuki Sugano matched him frame for frame — six innings, four hits, one earned run, zero walks, five strikeouts — and came away the winner. On paper, Skenes was sharper in some respects. In the only column that matters, Sugano had the edge.
The story of the night was McCarthy, who went 2-for-4 with a home run, an RBI, and scored twice. That homer was the decisive blow. TJ Rumfield added a 1-for-2 line with an RBI to account for Colorado's other run. Pittsburgh's answer came from Spencer Horwitz, who also went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and an RBI — a mirror image of McCarthy's night that wasn't quite enough. Brandon Lowe went 2-for-4 for Pittsburgh as well, but the Pirates couldn't string anything together when it counted. Bryan Reynolds and Jake Mangum each went 1-for-4, and Pittsburgh's offense appears to have run out of answers against a Sugano who simply didn't give them anything to work with — no free passes, no crooked numbers.
Out of the bullpen, Carmen Mlodzinski was excellent for Pittsburgh, tossing two scoreless innings on one hit with two strikeouts. Jimmy Herget handled 1.1 innings for Colorado without allowing a hit, walking one and striking out two to close it out. The bullpen work on both sides was clean, which means the outcome was essentially locked in by the time the starters exited. Pittsburgh is a team that can't afford to waste a Skenes start, and losing a 2-1 game when your ace goes six and fans eight has to sting. It looks like the Pirates' inability to generate offense against a pitcher who issued zero walks is the real culprit here — you don't beat a team by leaving free baserunners on the table when there aren't any to take.