By Zachary McMahon-
The Pittsburgh Pirates played the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field in Milwaukee on Thursday afternoon in a rubber match as the series was split after the Brewers shut out the Pirates, 9-0 on Wednesday.
O’Neil Cruz was back in the lineup after missing the last two games with hamstring tightness, and he threw out Willson Contreras at the plate when he went into the outfield grass in the first inning
Paul Skenes pitched seven no-hit innings with 11 strikeouts, and just one walk to Garett Mitchell, and hit Jake Bauers in the second inning. Skenes now has 89 strikeouts in his career, which is the fifth most all-time in a pitchers first 11 appearances, and the most since Kerry Wood had 98 strikeouts in the same span in 1998 for the Chicago Cubs. He’s also the second pitcher to have 80+ strikeouts and fewer than 15 walks in the first 11 appearances. The other was Mashiro Tanaka having 88 strikeouts and 12 walks in 2014 with the New York Yankees.
He also had eight straight outings with seven or more strikeouts, which is third longest streak for a rookie, and is one behind from tying a mark shared by two pitchers. Brandon Beachy had nine consecutive outings of seven or more strikeouts in 2011 for the Atlanta Braves, and Dwight Gooden had the same mark in his rookie season in 1984 for the New York Mets.
He also is the first pitcher to have seven or more strikeouts in 10 out of his first 11 strikeouts, and the 14 runs that he’s allowed is the fewest of the pitchers with 80+ strikeouts in their first 11 outings.
Aaron Civale pitched six shutout innings for the Brewers until he allowed a RBI double from former Brewer Yasmani Grandal in the seventh. After he walked Andrew McCutchen, Bryan Hudson relieved Civale and grounded Bryan Reynolds into a double play to end the inning.
Colin Holderman allowed the only two hits of the game in the eighth, which were two straight singles by Bauers and Mitchell, but after a walk to Bryce Turang to load the bases, he struck out Contreras to escape the jam, and to keep the shutout going for the Pirates.
Aroldis Chapman pitched a shutout ninth inning to secure his fourth save of the season as the Pirates win the rubber match against the Brewers, 1-0.
The Pirates will be traveling to Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago to face the White Sox for a three-game weekend series. They have not announced a starter on Friday at the time of writing, as they will be going up against Garrett Crochet. The Brewers will be going with Freddy Peralta as they open up the weekend series against the Washington Nationals. Jackson Rutledge will be called up from Triple-A Rochester to start for the Nats.
Sports Insider Daily 