MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers face the daunting task of facing the American League and NL Cy Young Award winners in back-to-back games. The results were mixed, with both games ending in losses for the defending NFC Central champions.
After a late-inning run against the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal in Detroit on Thursday, the Brewers had to deal with Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes and his signature “splinker” pitch, a combination of a split-finger and a sinker, for which Milwaukee had no answers, allowing Skenes to pitch a perfect game in the seventh inning Friday in Milwaukee.
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Skenes (4-1) did not allow a baserunner until Jake Bauers singled to right with two outs in the seventh inning. The 23-year-old right-hander allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings. He struck out seven but did not reach base.
Skenes had another no-hitter in Milwaukee on July 11, 2024, when he allowed no hits in seven innings in a 1-0 win.
When asked if this was the best performance the Brewers have seen in five games against them in Skene, the Brewers manager was quick to respond.
“I think that’s the best I’ve seen from anybody,” Murphy said.
He added that Skenes’ dominance required desperate measures.
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“I’m thinking about telling everyone to jump in front of it,” Murphy said. “You know what I mean? Just jump in front of it and try to get hit.”
According to Sportradar, facing a Cy Young Award winner has only happened once before in the majors, and that was last year, 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, both lost two games.
The Brewers rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the seventh inning on Thursday when Blake Perkins tied the game with a double by Skubal and scored by Gary Sanchez and Luis Matos. Then David Hamilton’s single off reliever Tyler Holton brought Perkins home to give the Brewers a 4-3 lead.
Milwaukee ultimately lost 5-4 on Spencer Torkelson’s walk-off homer.
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Skubal was dominant early in the game, retiring the first 11 batters and striking out 24 of his first 26 pitches. But he didn’t think about the decision and ended up allowing four runs on seven hits and striking out five.
“I’m very proud of our club (Thursday), having three of our key players go down and still competing the way we did,” Murphy said. “You never like losing and I’m not a fan of moral victories, but it does say something about what they (Skubal) got out of there.”
But the Brewers were stopped by Skenes one night later.
“He had elite stuff tonight. Perfect game stuff. Really impressive,” Buccaneers manager Don Kelly said. “Sometimes we overlook the fact that he’s just entering his third season in the majors. He’s continuing to get better, which is amazing considering what he’s already accomplished in the game.”
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Associated Press MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
