MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers had the daunting task of facing the AL and NL Cy Young Award winners in consecutive games. The results were mixed, with both ending in losses for the defending NL Central champions.
After having late-inning success against the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal on Thursday in Detroit, the Brewers had to deal with Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes and his signature “splinker” pitch, a combination of split-finger and sinker, for which Milwaukee had no answer, leaving Skenes with a perfect game into the seventh inning Friday in Milwaukee.
Skenes (4-1) didn’t allow a base runner until Jake Bauers’ sharp single to right with two outs in the seventh. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up one hit over seven shutout innings. He struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter.
Skenes had another no-hitter close call in Milwaukee on July 11, 2024, when he allowed no hits over seven innings in a 1-0 win.
When asked if that’s the best the Brewers had seen from Skenes in his five outings against them, Brewers manager quickly responded.
“That’s the best I’ve seen from anyone, I think,” Murphy said.
Skenes’ dominance called for desperate measures, he added.
“I was thinking about telling guys just to jump in front of it,” Murphy said. “You know what I mean? Just jump in front of it and try to get hit.”
Facing ruling Cy Young Award winners had happened just once before in the majors, and it was just last year, according to Sportradar, when the Red Sox faced Skubal and the Tigers in Detroit on May 14 and Atlanta’s Chris Sale at home on May 16. The Red Sox, like the Brewers, lost both games.
On Thursday, the Brewers rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the seventh, with Blake Perkins tying it with a double off of Skubal that scored Gary Sanchez and Luis Matos. David Hamilton then put the Brewers up 4-3 when his single off reliever Tyler Holton brought home Perkins.
Milwaukee ended up losing 5-4 on Spencer Torkelson’s walk-off home run.
Skubal was dominant early in the game, retiring the first 11 batters and throwing strikes on 24 of his first 26 pitches. But he didn’t factor into the decision and finished allowing four runs on seven hits and striking out five.
“I was really proud of our club (on Thursday) with our three main guys down and to still compete the way we did,” Murphy said. “You never like to lose and I’m not into moral victories, but it certainly said something that they got (Skubal) out of there.”
But the Brewers were stymied by Skenes a night later.
“He had elite stuff tonight. Perfect game stuff. Really impressive,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that he’s just in his third season in the big leagues. He’s continuing to get better, which is amazing considering what he’s already done in the game.”
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