The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 5-0 on Tuesday, led by five shutout innings from Paul Skenes.
What I liked about this win was that there were several examples of the positive side of the inconsistencies from young players.
For example, Skenes has seen his velocity decline in some outings recently, as he gets to the end of his first full season as a professional pitcher, throwing longer than he ever has before. That wasn’t the case on Tuesday, with Skenes seeing normal, if not slightly increased velocity on several of his pitches.
Skenes was pairing his fastball with a changeup, which received 10 whiffs on 11 swings as his most effective pitch on the night.