Paul Skenes outduels Yoshinobu Yamamoto as Pirates shutout Dodgers

LOS ANGELES -- In this marquee heavyweight pitching matchup between the Dodgers' ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Fullerton-born flamethrower for Pittsburgh in Paul Skenes, it was the hometown kid who showcased a Hollywood-type performance as he went 6.1 innings of shutout ball, only allowing five hits, no walks, while striking out nine. On the contrary, Yamamoto kept his pace with Skenes, but dealt with some command trouble early as he finished by tossing five innings, allowing five hits, three runs, one earned, and walking a career-high four batters while striking out five Pirates. 

The Pirates drew first blood to begin the weekend series as the speedy Oneil Cruz was walked and stole second to start the game for Pittsburgh, which allowed Enmanuel Valdez to smack a 90 mph splitter down in the zone passed a diving Tommy Edman that allowed Cruz to score easily and put the Bucs on top 1-0 early. 

Pittsburgh had its next scoring opportunity in the top half of the fifth as Henry Davis led off the inning, reaching second safely after a throwing error by Max Muncy, and the Cruz missile struck again as the 26-year-old hit an RBI single on a sharp line drive to right field and the Pirates tacked on their second run of the game. Ke'Bryan Hayes would follow up with an RBI single of his own later in the inning to add extra insurance and the final run for Pittsburgh. 

There were opportunities for Los Angeles to score in this game, including a leadoff triple by Freddie Freeman in the fourth, but the Dodgers' offense was nonexistent today as hitters went 6-33 with 11 punchouts. Los Angeles drops the series opener and has dropped three straight games while also suffering their second shutout loss of the season. Roki Sasaki toes the rubber for Saturday's matchup against Mitch Keller at 6:10 p.m.