Paul Skenes will be looking for his first career win over the San Francisco Giants in a matchup with fellow three-time All-Star Logan Webb when the Pittsburgh Pirates open a six-game homestand Tuesday night.
Although Skenes (9-11, 3.79 ERA) hasn’t recorded a win since July 19, the Pirates (67-71) have captured two in a row to stay on the periphery of playoff contention in the National League. They begin their homestand four games under .500, needing five wins in six games over the Giants and Los Angeles Angels to reach the break-even mark.
Skenes is scheduled to pitch twice on the homestand. While he hasn’t been rewarded with any wins to show for it, he has started team victories in his last two outings, including a 1-0 result at San Diego last Tuesday in which he threw six innings of shutout ball.
The right-hander has faced the Giants just once, that coming in the third start of his career on May 23, 2024, when he limited San Francisco to one run in six innings. He left with a 5-1 lead before the Giants rallied for a 7-6 road victory.
Skenes has been scrutinized for having lost a little zip on his fastball this season, admitting to reporters last week, “We’ll try to address it.”
“But you also have to understand what’s in your control and what’s not in your control,” he continued. “(The velocity is) kind of not in my control. My next outing, I could be 95-97 (mph) again. I’m not gonna lose any sleep over it.”
The head-to-head with Webb will be new for Skenes, who drew an opener — Erik Miller — in the 2004 meeting. Not one of the 19 Giants who saw action against the Pirates that day will be active for Tuesday’s game.
A reshuffled deck hasn’t stopped the Giants (57-81) from winning of late. They’ve won five of their last eight, including twice over the playoff-contending Arizona Diamondbacks at home last week and 7-3 in a stopover in Atlanta against the first-place Braves on Monday in a make-up game.
Eight of nine Giants starting position players reached base in the win in Atlanta, including in-season call-ups Osleivis Basabe and Jonah Cox, each of whom homered. They followed in the footsteps of Rafael Devers, who smacked his 30th homer of the year in the first inning.
“The young guys have brought a lot of energy,” Giants manager Tony Vitello said. “Raffy’s kinda helped lead them, but he’s also kinda feeding off their energy.
“Guys fought their way on base, (which) is a reflection of how they were competing together. Didn’t have anybody cashing anything in.”
Webb (8-8, 3.72) posted a 2-1 record with a 2.83 ERA in August. Throw out the five runs he served up to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in his fourth of five starts last month, and he limited four opponents to a total of four runs over 26 innings.
The right-hander has gone 2-1 with a 2.37 ERA in five career starts against the Pirates.
–Field Level Media
