He gave up 3 earned runs and struck out 7. The bullpen gave up 8 runs. They are atrocious. There was plenty of run support too. That wasn’t on Skenes.
2026 Pirates Thread
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The loss isn't on him but he threw over 100 pitches and couldn't get out of the 5th. That's not a good start for anyone let alone Skenes. He just wasn't on yesterday. He battled and gave his team a chance. I'm fairly certain he'd agree that yesterday was very good for him.
The pen is garbage and lost the game but we need 6+ from our starters.
No he wasn’t but he had enough run support to get the W. Ramirez, Montgomery and Soto stank.
Raise it. 
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Pirates 5-1 Astros (Jun 4, 2026) Final Score - ESPN
Game summary of the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Houston Astros MLB game, final score 5-1, from June 4, 2026 on ESPN.
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That was a thing of Beauty. Now on to conquering Atlanta. Psyched!Raise it.
Pirates 5-1 Astros (Jun 4, 2026) Final Score - ESPN
Game summary of the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Houston Astros MLB game, final score 5-1, from June 4, 2026 on ESPN.
And thats exactly how they should use Mlodzinski. He should piggyback with Jones until he is ready to go 90+ pitches. If Jones gets in trouble early, go right to Mlodzinski. He threw 55 pitches so maybe they can do the same thing if Bubba has another rough one on Sunday, go to Mlodzinski early.Raise it.
Pirates 5-1 Astros (Jun 4, 2026) Final Score - ESPN
Game summary of the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Houston Astros MLB game, final score 5-1, from June 4, 2026 on ESPN.
I don't disagree but Mlodzinski isn't going to agree to even that IMO. He feels he's earned his spot in the rotation and doesn't want to be here now.
I'm impressed that they know it is a problem. That is a big improvement from the old days of counting the cash brought in by the luxury tax.
I agree. It’s a step in the right direction. They have blown 13 saves now. They could be running away with this division right now.
His annual collapse began in May this season rather than in August like in previous seasons. Since mid May, most of the pitching staff except for Ashcraft and Mlodzinski have been bad; they usually have to score at least six runs to win, which isn’t sustainable. It’s amazing that they’re 6-7 in games started by Skenes, who doesn’t look like the same pitcher this season.
Today was a tough one for the psyche, swept in the series and bad overall road trip instead of a respectable .500.
Once again multiple walks when having a multi run advantage leads to a loss. And let’s not forget about another error in the field having a hand in the negative outcome.
Once again multiple walks when having a multi run advantage leads to a loss. And let’s not forget about another error in the field having a hand in the negative outcome.
Yup. This stretch of the schedule was supposed to show who they were as a team. So far, not much different than usual.
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The Pirates, a/k/a the Cleveland Browns of baseball.
I believe that they're now 6-8 in games started by Skenes, who doesn't look anywhere near as good as he did in 2024 and 2025. He hasn't thrown one pitch this season, not one, at 100 mph or above, and never seems to go past the sixth inning because it takes him forever to finish off hitters. Meanwhile, the player whom they drafted with the very first pick in the 2021 draft is going down as one of the worst historical hitters in baseball, and he was drated for his hitting. And in typical Pirates fashion, in recent seasons when they were legitimately bad, they actually had a competent bullpen, whereas this season when they're just mildly bad, they may have the worst bullpen in their history.
My issue with Skenes when people were comparing him to Doc Gooden and others was it's way easier to be great when hitters see you twice a game vs 3 or 4 times. Skenes was nearly unhittable but a 5 or 6 inning start is the minimum that's acceptable. He wasn't efficient and unfortunately that's become an issue this year. He's still special. He's still elite. It's not his fault the pen is beyond awful but with this pen we need the strong group of starters to go deeper in games. Period.
Most starting pitchers now just aren't trained or developed to pitch into the latter three innings of games, and this is especially true with the Pirates, which means that their awful bullpen is way overused and required to pitch a half of almost every game, which is totally unsustainable.
Skenes is just a frustrating case because, like last night, he had to throw over 100 pitches into the sixth inning, and that's a constant with him. I know that he faced a great lineup, but this is a problem with him even when he faces a poor team. Oh well, when he's pitching for the Dodgers in 2028, maybe he'll become more efficient.
My brother and I basically spent our summers in the 1970s sitting in the GA sections at TRS and watching great to really good Pirates teams with a bunch of memorable players either win the NL East or finish in second to the Phillies, and always being a factor and producing a lot of really good players. As I went to bed last night, I just thought that this franchise has not won a playoff series since 1979, only have won three playoff games since the 1993 season, one of which was a Wild Card game, and only had four above .500 seasons since 1993. I've pretty much had it. This is why my favorite baseball event begins on Friday as I've become a huge college baseball fan, and my second favorite baseball event is the LLWS which I attended for the first time last year.
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Yeah my interest in MLB and the Bucs is a tenth of what it once was. 30+ years of hoping to be mediocre makes it tough to care. I'm not even looking for a title...just want to be relevant
That "Shohei Sucks" chant that Bucs fans performed did not work out too well.
Pirates fans' foolish Shohei Ohtani chants immediately backfire vs. Dodgers
Pirates fans' foolish Shohei Ohtani chants immediately backfire vs. Dodgers
Holy Schnikes. Anybody else watch this game? It was 6-1 Dodgers when I turned it on.
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Pirates 9-8 Dodgers (Jun 10, 2026) Box Score - ESPN
Box score for the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Los Angeles Dodgers MLB game from June 10, 2026 on ESPN. Includes all pitching and batting stats.
www.espn.com
No but I did check the score on ESPNHoly Schnikes. Anybody else watch this game? It was 6-1 Dodgers when I turned it on.
Pirates 9-8 Dodgers (Jun 10, 2026) Box Score - ESPN
Box score for the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Los Angeles Dodgers MLB game from June 10, 2026 on ESPN. Includes all pitching and batting stats.
Nice to see someone else's pen blow a game--though Soto made it interesting
The wheels started falling off before they pulled Ohtani. Lowe hit a two out, two RBI double that chased Ohtani, then the Pirates bats woke up. Soto doesn’t instill confidence
I turned it on right as the bottom of the 7th started. "tommy' Callihan walked, Mangum got on and then two K's, I thought they were done after the K's, thankfully Lowe came throughHoly Schnikes. Anybody else watch this game? It was 6-1 Dodgers when I turned it on.
Pirates 9-8 Dodgers (Jun 10, 2026) Box Score - ESPN
Box score for the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Los Angeles Dodgers MLB game from June 10, 2026 on ESPN. Includes all pitching and batting stats.
That’s exactly when turned it on as well. When I saw the score, I almost started channel surfing but I stuck it out.
As is typical with this pathetic organization, last season, they had good pitching and terrible hitting. This season, they have one of the best offenses that can score runs against any team (just look at this Dodgers series), but their pitching, which was supposed to be one of the best, now is absolutely terrible.
You can plug in any terrible organization and it would apply.
With this bullpen the starters need to throw complete games