Skenes Dominates, Pittsburgh Rolls Cleveland 7-1
Paul Skenes threw 7.0 innings of one-run ball — 8 strikeouts, 2 walks, 1 earned run — and Pittsburgh's offense piled on for a 7-1 win over Cleveland on July 19. The story of the night was how thoroughly the Pirates dismantled a game that briefly looked like it could slip away.
Pittsburgh struck first in the second inning when Billy Cook singled to right to score Nick Gonzales, putting the Pirates up 1-0. Cleveland answered immediately in the third on the most chaotic sequence of the game: Steven Kwan reached on a bunt single to first, Arias scored on an error, Halpin moved to second and then reached third safely on an error by catcher Davis — tying the game at 1-1 and swinging Cleveland's home win probability from 46% to 59%. That's the moment the game looked like it might belong to the Guardians. It didn't.
Pittsburgh reclaimed the lead in the fifth when Cook scored on a pickoff error by catcher Bailey, and the sixth inning is where the Pirates simply broke it open. Jacob Gonzalez doubled to right to score Gonzales, making it 3-1. Cook then singled to center to score Gonzalez, pushing it to 4-1. Jake Mangum followed with a single to center, scoring Cook and moving Mangum to second — suddenly it was 5-1 and Cleveland's bullpen was in full damage-control mode. Cook finished 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored; he appears to have been the engine of this offense all night. Esmerlyn Valdez put the exclamation point on it in the ninth, launching a 371-foot homer to left that scored Triolo and set the final at 7-1.
On the mound, Skenes was the dominant force his line suggests — 7.0 innings, 7 hits, 1 earned run, 8 strikeouts. Joey Cantillo lasted just 5.0 innings for Cleveland, allowing 4 earned runs on 7 hits with 3 walks, and Will Dion gave up 2 more earned runs in 2.0 innings of relief. Mason Montgomery closed it out with a clean ninth — no hits, no walks, 2 strikeouts. Pittsburgh's pitching staff looks like it simply outclassed Cleveland's on this Sunday afternoon, and the offense did exactly enough damage in the middle innings to make Skenes's night comfortable. A thorough, convincing road win.