The Cubs should not be evaluated on their production against Paul Skenes because he has dominated most opponents he has faced. A strong follow-up performance would lift morale, but the expectation is that the Cubs will likely need a near-perfect effort from their pitching and timely scoring. The Cubs are hoping Colin Rea delivers a brilliant outing and that the Cubs can score enough runs, potentially by taking advantage of the Pirates bullpen. Skenes has struggled in his last two starts, allowing nine earned runs over 10 innings with limited strikeouts and showing possible command issues. Batters have reportedly targeted the fastball up, offspeed down, and focused on one side of the plate, suggesting a workable approach against him.
"Let me just say at the very top that, no matter what happens tonight between the Cubs and Pirates, I beg you not to judge the Cubs' offense on the basis of their production against Paul freaking Skenes. He's one of the best young pitchers in recent memory, and he's dominated MOST of the teams he's faced in his career. The Cubs had a great night at the plate last night, and if Skenes overpowers them tonight, it doesn't have to mean anything for tomorrow."
"Over his last two outings, against the Phillies and the Blue Jays, Skenes has thrown 10.0 innings and allowed 9 earned runs on 15 hits and 2 walks, with just 9 strikeouts. For him, that's an absolute disaster of a two-start stretch, and maybe his command is ever so slightly off right now in a way that the Cubs could hope to exploit? I mean, this guy has NEVER allowed THREE runs in back-to-back outings before. Clearly the Phillies and Blue Jays were seeing something."
"Pitching Ninja dug in what has happened with Skenes over the last two outings, and it might boil down to some predictability: Batters were keying in on the fastball up, the offspeed stuff down, and they were also focusing on one half of the plate. It's a pretty smart strategy against a guy who can execute so many nasty pitches, who isn't going to walk you, and who is probably going to get his anyway. So just pick your pitch, pick your location, and give it"
Read at Bleacher Nation
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