Phillies Break Two Paul Skenes Streaks To Sweep Pirates

The Philadelphia Phillies entered their Rivalry Weekend series with the Pittsburgh Pirates riding an incredible wave of positive momentum.

They entered the matchup winning five series in a row, looking like a totally different team under interim manager Don Mattingly. The San Francisco Giants, Miami Marlins, Athletics, Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox were all defeated, and now the Pirates can be added to that streak.

The Phillies finished off a sweep of Pittsburgh with a strong showing in the series finale against reigning 2025 National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes. While their series-winning streak has been stretched to six and they have won four in a row, the Pirates phenom saw some of his personal streaks snapped by Philadelphia.

Skenes headed into the matchup with the Phillies on quite a hot streak. Since a disastrous Opening Day start against the New York Mets, in which he was charged with five earned runs while only recording two outs, he has been dominant.

Phillies snap two impressive Paul Skenes streaks in win

Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto (right) greets second baseman Bryson Stott crossing home plate on a solo home run — May 17, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto (right) greets second baseman Bryson Stott (5) crossing home plate on a solo home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the eighth inning at PNC Park. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

He entered Sunday with two impressive streaks of not issuing a walk and not allowing a run. As shared by Colin Beazley on X, both were broken in the top of the fifth inning.

His streak of not issuing a walk reached 39 innings, which was the longest since Bob Friend in 1963. The scoreless innings streak reached 20, which was the longest of his career to this point.

Adolis Garcia drew a walk to start the top of the fifth inning. Bryson Stott was struck out on a foul tip after that, but J.T. Realmuto was able to hit a single that pushed Garcia to third base.

He would come around to score during the next at-bat when Justin Crawford hit a groundout to shortstop Konnor Griffin, who made a nice diving play before making the throw over to first base.

A second run could come across when Trea Turner hit an RBI single to score Realmuto. Skenes would end the inning by getting Kyle Schwarber to strike out swinging for the second time in the afternoon.

Two streaks ended this inning: Paul Skenes' 39-inning stretch of no walks (the longest since Bob Friend in 1963) and Skenes' career-best 20-inning scoreless streak.

2-0 Phillies, mid-five. Pirates will need to snap their own scoreless streak against Phillies RHP Zack Wheeler.
— Colin Beazley (@colin_beazley) May 17, 2026

The Phillies would pile on some insurance runs in the top of the sixth inning, chasing Skenes from the game before he could record an out in the frame. Bryce Harper took him deep as the leadoff hitter in the inning, and Alec Bohm followed up with a single.

Brandon Marsh hit a double to deep left center field, which prompted manager Don Kelly to go to the bullpen, calling upon Isaac Mattson to relieve Skenes after 5+ innings. Both inherited runners could eventually come around to score when Stott hit an RBI double following Garcia being hit by a pitch.

Skenes finished the afternoon with 5+ innings pitched, allowing six hits and one walk that resulted in five earned runs scoring against him, to go along with seven strikeouts.

Philadelphia is now riding a five-game winning streak heading into its series with the Cincinnati Reds and is above the .500 mark for the first time since April 7, when they were 6-5.

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