Paul Skenes’ Historic Homer Barrage Overshadowed in Shocking Pirates Defeat to Cubs

“You’re not chasing, and [Skenes] has got to figure out something else to do,” Counsell said, via MLB.com. “He definitely went to off-speed [pitches] more today, and we did a really nice job of not swinging.

“You get the hard throwers, and you think you have to cheat to the fastball and we still laid off the off-speed,” he added. “It makes him come in the zone, makes him be a little less fine, maybe, and then you get something over the middle of the plate.”

Joey Wentz took over for Skenes in the sixth inning with the Pirates down, 3-2. Skenes threw 86 pitches, 49 for strikes, and only recorded two strikeouts, the lowest total of his career. He came into Thursday’s game with one home run allowed and four total walks for the season.

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