What happened Sunday at Progressive Field was more than the box score shows. Paul Skenes went seven innings, allowed one run, struck out eight, and needed 100 pitches to get there. That's a strong start from a strong pitcher on its own. Given that Skenes was still working his way back from an ugly eight-run afternoon in Philadelphia on July 1, it looks like the day he put that slump behind him for good.
This start should quiet any doubts about Skenes heading into the stretch run. Since that Philadelphia disaster, he's gone 3-0 with an ERA in the mid-2s, and Sunday was the best of the bunch. He hadn't pitched into the seventh inning since mid-May, and no Pirates starter had gone seven since Braxton Ashcraft did it back in late May. That's not a pitcher scuffling. That's a guy who took a full week off around the All-Star break, came back rested, and showed the Guardians exactly why he made the All-Star team.
Cleveland didn't make it easy on him. The Guardians had a runner tagging from third in the fourth, and it took a strong throw from Billy Cook to keep the game tied at one. Skenes answered by striking out the next batter to end the inning. That's what separates a good start from one worth remembering: the moment things could've slipped away, he and his defense shut the door instead.
Cook was the story underneath the story on offense: a career-high three hits and two RBIs, including the base hit that opened the scoring and another that pushed the lead to 4-1 in the sixth. Esmerlyn Valdez added a two-run homer in the ninth, continuing a torrid July, and Nick Gonzales chipped in two doubles. Add it up and Pittsburgh clinched the series, its fifth straight interleague series win, moving to 11-4 over that stretch as of this writing.
Zoom out and this is a Pirates team that's won five of its last six games and gone 9-5 in July through this stretch, chasing a wild-card spot that sat within half a game as of this weekend. It's a crowded race, with St. Louis holding on and Arizona lurking, and things could look different by the time you're reading this. But the engine underneath the push is clear: when Skenes pitches like he did Sunday, this team looks like a different animal. Ben Cherington's front office has made clear all year that trading him was never on the table. Sunday was the best argument yet for why that was the right call.
