The Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers will have their aces on the mound Thursday, though apparently not in the same game.
The teams will play a doubleheader in Detroit due to a Wednesday rainout.
Unless the managers change their minds overnight, the day game will feature Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, while Pirates ace Paul Skenes will go in the nightcap.
Skubal (7-2, 1.99 ERA) presents a monumental challenge wherever he pitches, but he is especially stingy at Detroit’s Comerica Park. This season, Skubal has a 5-0 record and a 1.72 ERA in seven home starts.
Skubal dropped his first two decisions this season but has a 7-0 record and a 1.47 ERA in his past 12 outings. He has allowed just one run total in his past four starts, spanning 30 2/3 innings, while recording 32 strikeouts and two walks. Both free passes were issued in his latest outing, when he held the Baltimore Orioles scoreless for seven innings on June 12.
“I was kind of fighting myself a little bit early,” Skubal said. “As the game wore on, I felt like I got better. That’s probably what I’m the most proud of. If you look back at my games, sometimes you’re on from pitch one, and sometimes it takes a little bit.”
Skubal is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in four career outings (three starts) against the Pirates.
He will be opposed by another left-hander, Andrew Heaney (3-5, 3.33 ERA). Heaney has displayed pinpoint control in his three June starts — he hasn’t issued a walk. In his latest outing, Heaney gave up three runs in six innings to the Chicago Cubs on June 12.
Heaney is 1-2 with a 9.19 ERA in three career starts against the Tigers.
Snakebit by a lack of run support, Skenes will try once again to collect his fifth victory of the season in Game 2. Skenes (4-6, 1.78 ERA) has not allowed more than two runs in his past eight starts and has given up a total of one earned run in his past four. Yet during the eight-game stretch, he is 1-3 with a 1.01 ERA.
Skenes’ stretch of seven consecutive quality starts ended in his most recent outing. He labored against the Chicago Cubs on Friday, requiring 95 pitches to get through five scoreless innings. He was helped when Pirates shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa threw a runner out at home on a relay in the fifth inning.
“I really, really, really want Paul to win the Cy Young this year,” Kiner-Falefa said. “And if you’re not going to get the wins, like he hasn’t been, you’ve got to get the ERA down, the WHIP, everything.”
The pesky Cubs fouled off 24 pitches from Skenes, resulting in his shortened start.
“Yeah, we just made pitches when we needed to,” Skenes said. “Unfortunately it took longer than we wanted.”
Skenes collected a win in Detroit as a rookie in May 2024, holding the Tigers to two runs in six innings while notching nine strikeouts.
The Tigers hadn’t listed a Game 2 starter as of late Wednesday night, but Keider Montero (3-1, 4.24 ERA) is likely to pitch bulk innings. Montero recorded a victory in his latest outing, when he held the Cincinnati Reds to two runs in five innings on Friday.
Montero made his major league debut in the same game that Skenes pitched against Detroit. The Detroit right-hander gave up four runs in 4 1/3 innings in that contest.
–Field Level Media
