Paul Skenes tossed six shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out eight to lead the host Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-3 win and a three-game sweep over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night.
Skenes (10-9) further solidified his case for his first National League Cy Young Award with another stellar performance. Lowering his ERA to an MLB-best 1.98, he picked up his third win in as many starts and has allowed only one earned run over that span (19 innings).
The reigning National League Rookie of the Year’s latest gem helped the Pirates (64-77) secure their fifth win in their past six games. They are 12-4 over their past 16 games.
The Pirates continued to play spoiler against the Dodgers (78-62), who have lost four of their last five games.
Los Angeles nearly rallied in the ninth as Mookie Betts belted a leadoff home run — his 15th of the season — off reliever Dauri Moreta to make it 5-1.
Teoscar Hernandez singled with one out in the ninth and Michael Conforto followed with a single to put runners on first and third. Andy Pages’ infield single scored Hernandez and brought the potential tying run to the plate.
With closer Dennis Santana unavailable, Colin Holderman entered and retired Hyeseong Kim on a liner for the second out. Miguel Rojas singled to drive in Conforto and cut the deficit to 5-3, but Holderman struck out Ben Rortvedt to earn his first save of the season.
Conforto and Rojas each had two hits to lead Los Angeles at the plate.
Dodgers starter Blake Snell (3-4) wasn’t nearly as sharp as his Pirates counterpart, allowing five runs on nine hits. Snell walked three and struck out six over five innings.
Dalton Rushing, who started behind the plate a day after Will Smith suffered a bruised right hand after being hit with a foul ball, also had a hit for the Dodgers. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Friday that Smith would likely miss the Dodgers’ weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles.
Nick Yorke delivered a two-run double off Snell to highlight a four-run fifth for the Pirates. Bryan Reynolds had two hits and started the scoring in that inning with an RBI single. Jared Triolo added two hits and scored a run. Alexander Canario and Tommy Pham also drove in a run apiece for the Pirates.
