Pirates Lose Another Skenes Start, Drop Series to Marlins

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates had who they wanted on the mound in Sunday’s rubber match against the Miami Marlins at PNC Park in Paul Skenes , but they were defeated 4-2 despite his quality start.

Top 2nd, 2-0 MIA: The Marlins (36-36) hit a pair of solo homers off Paul Skenes (6-6) to take an early lead. Heriberto Hernández led off the inning with a homer to left, and with two outs, Joe Mack cleared the fence in center for his second of the season.

Bottom 4th, 2-1 MIA: Jake Mangum ’s RBI single capped off a stretch of three straight hits against Max Meyer (7-0) to get the Pirates (36-36) on the board.

Top 8th, 4-1 MIA : The Marlins strung together four straight hits with one out against Brandan Bidois. Kyle Stowers and Xavier Edwards brought home runs with base hits.

Bottom 9th, 4-2 MIA: Bryan Reynolds hit a 422-foot home run to center field off Pete Fairbanks , his eighth of the season.

Trailing by a run in the top of the fifth, the Pirates loaded the bases with two outs against Max Mayer. Jake Mangum hit a liner to right-center, but Marlins center fielder Jakob Marsee made a diving catch to take away a hit and a couple runs.

Marlins starter Max Meyer held the Pirates to one run across six-strong innings. The right-hander allowed six hits, walked three and struck out nine.

The Pirates have lost the last six games in which Paul Skenes has been the starting pitcher. Skenes is 0-4 during that stretch. The last time Pittsburgh won a game he started was on May 12 against the Rockies, when he got the win after throwing eight-scoreless innings.