Pittsburgh Pirates’ Paul Skenes does something never done before in Tuesday’s loss

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 2-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night at PNC Park, handing right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes his first career loss.

But just because Skenes lost doesn’t mean he wasn’t still dominant. He was. The former No. 1 draft pick and first-time All-Star threw 8.1 innings, reaching the ninth inning for the first time in his career. He allowed two earned runs on four hits, walked none and struck out eight. He’s now 6-1 on the year with a 1.93 ERA.

It was a tough loss for the Pirates, who are now 51-50 on the year. They are 1.5 games behind in the National League wild card defeat.

As for Skenes, he’s one of the biggest stories in baseball this season. He’s taken the league by storm, started the All-Star Game for the National League and also has the inside track on the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

He’s also helped rekindle the Pirates fan base, which hasn’t seen a playoff berth in nearly a decade. He and Jared Jones appear to be the foundation of a pitching staff that could be excellent for the next five years or more.

Additionally, his performance made history in Modern Era baseball, according to @OptaSTATS:

Tonight Paul Skenes:

– got 25+ outs
– less than 5 hits allowed
-nobody walked
– 8+ strikeouts

No other MLB rookie in the modern era has accomplished all this and yet suffered so much loss.

The Pirates and Cardinals play again on Wednesday afternoon, with first pitch at 12:35 ET. As of this posting, the Cardinals have not named a starter, but the Pirates are going with veteran left-hander Martin Perez. He is 1-5 with a 5.61 ERA.

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