Andre Pallante outperformed Paul Skenes to guide St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-0 victory over Pittsburgh Pirates
Andre Pallante outperformed rookie Paul Skenes, striking out a career-high nine batters over seven innings, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.
“I’m very focused on me versus the hitters,” Pallante said. “I’m just trying to pitch the best I can regardless of who I’m going against. He’s a really good pitcher. You kind of know it’s going to be a tight game, but I’m glad we pulled ahead.”
Pallante (7-8) gave up four hits and one walk. Andrew Kittredge and Ryan Fernandez each pitched a perfect inning, completing a four-hitter and the ninth shutout for the Cardinals this season.
“He just pounded the zone,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Pallante. “He got ahead of everybody, and the slider was a big pitch for him. He landed that a ton.”
Skenes (10-3) allowed one run and four hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and one walk, dropping to 0-2 in three starts against St. Louis.
“I had to do some things I haven’t done, necessarily,” Skenes said. “At this point of the season, they’ve seen everything, so it turns into playing the game of baseball. We had a good plan and executed it pretty well.”
Skenes’ 2.07 ERA is the second-lowest through a pitcher’s first 21 starts since ERA became an official statistic in both leagues in 1913, trailing only Steve Rogers’ 1.95 for Montreal in 1973 and 74.
“I think it speaks to how good he is,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He’s faced teams in the division multiple times, and they’ve gotten a look at him. He’s made adjustments off it, using the fastball tonight, using the changeup.”
Skenes threw his 94th pitch of 100 mph or more, retiring Paul Goldschmidt on a grounder that ended a nine-pitch at-bat in the fourth inning. No other starting pitcher has thrown more than 40 pitches of at least 100 mph this season.
ST. LOUIS — By all measures, Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes has had a stellar rookie season. But he admitted that lately he’s had to dig deeper into his bag of tricks, especially when facing division opponents multiple times.
On Monday, making his third career start against the Cardinals, that included using his changeup to strike out a right-handed batter for the first time.
“I mean, had to do some things that I haven’t done necessarily, you know, to this point in the season,” Skenes said. “They’ve seen everything. So, then it turns into, you know, playing the game of baseball, and we had a good game-plan and executed it pretty well.”
Skenes turned in his third quality start in three opportunities against the Cardinals, but the Pirates still lost 4-0.
“They had a couple hits, you know, early in innings, and then it turns into making pitches to get out of it,” Skenes said. “I wasn’t helping myself out either. I wasn’t getting ahead when I needed to, some of those at-bats.”
