Pirates Skenes still winless against Cardinals after 2-1 loss

ST LOUIS AP Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes still hasn t ascertained what he s looking for against the St Louis Cardinals a win Skenes fell to - in five career starts against the Cardinals following a - loss on Tuesday night It is the bulk starts by a Pirates pitcher to begin a career against St Louis without a win since JT Brubaker went - in eight starts without a win in and Skenes pitched well enough in his latest start allowing two runs on three hits in six innings But one mistake to Alec Burleson who hit a two-out two-run double in the sixth inning did him in Just not executing Skenes reported Burleson for has more career hits off Skenes than any other major leaguer Adding to Skenes frustration is the entire rally in the sixth started with two outs as Nolan Arenado singled and Willson Contreras walked before Burleson came to the plate There is no secret Burleson commented of facing Skenes It takes a little bit of luck I feel like It s just with a guy like him you have to have a plan and stick to it for three four at bats It may not necessarily give you success that night but it gives you the best chance to have success So that s what I did and it worked out and I had a good time Skenes who allowed a season-high five runs in a loss to the Cardinals in Pittsburgh on April has a ERA in his five career starts against St Louis I feel like we took tough at bats Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol announced Didn t have a ton to show for it but pitch count we were able to drive that up particular deep counts The guys continued to battle You have to stay short through the middle of the field and battle from pitch one against someone like Skenes I felt like our guys did that Skenes pitched around four walks matching a career high he set in his last outing against the Cubs There were times where it looked like he lost his command and then he came back and really executed pitches Pirates manager Derek Shelton declared He gave up what three hits and you know did a pretty good job He made a bad pitch on a fastball that leaked out over to Burleson that ended up being the difference in the event While Skenes would like the pitch to Burleson back he was also the victim of lack of run help once again In his five starts against the Cardinals spanning innings Skenes has received just three total runs of backing while he has been in the competition The Pirates have lost six straight and nine of their last games We re not being very consistent right now offensively Shelton reported We re not getting things going and you know we ve tried particular different lineups We ve tried lineup changes We ve tried consistency of lineups So I think it s something we just got to keep exploring Pitching is not the obstacle Pirates third baseman Ke Bryan Hayes commented And I mean we just got to pick them up and tally runs So however that may be whether it be drawing walks getting that big hit we just got to find a way AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source