Pirates' Paul Skenes in Familiar Territory After Konnor Griffin Injury
In this story:
PITTSBURGH -- Just as the Pittsburgh Pirates thought they had figured things out, they were struck a massive blow. Breakout rookie and superstar shortstop Konnor Griffin suffered his second injury of the year.
This time, the new face of the Pirates' franchise will miss between eight and 10 weeks recovering from a sagittal band injury in his left finger. In layman's terms, he tore a ligament in his non-throwing hand diving for a ground ball. Now, the Buccos must battle without their leadoff hitter and momentum generator for a considerable stretch of the regular season.
It's a good thing the Pirates still have another face of the franchise around in starting pitcher Paul Skenes. The team's ace has experienced an uncharacteristic slump, making the invincible Skenes appear human for the first time in his MLB career. But after a rebound outing and with his squad needing to be carried once again, Skenes is back in familiar territory as the team's driving force in an increasingly challenging road to the postseason.
Is Skenes Back on Track?
After finishing third in the NL CY Young voting as a rookie and winning the award for the first time last year, Skenes has seemingly "fallen off." The problem is that notion is greatly exaggerated. According to Pro Baseball Reference data, the 24-year-old is currently 7-8 through 19 starts, throwing 103.0 innings with a 3.58 ERA and 123 strikeouts.
Like any great pitcher in the MLB, they have weaknesses and can be exploited. Even Cy Young winners like Skenes can struggle, but his most recent start should be taken as a sign of good things to come in the second half of the season.
His last outing was exactly what the Buccos needed out of Skenes. He got through 6.0 innings of effective work. He tossed 95 pitches, 66 of those for strikes, and punched out four batters. He did give up eight hits, but limited the damage to two earned runs, helping the Pirates beat the powerful Atlanta Braves.
While the eight hits are a bit high for the superstar pitcher, he also induced seven ground balls. That was the highest number of ground balls he's induced in nearly a month.
Why This Matters for the Pirates
It would be easy to lose hope in the Pirates' playoff hopes after finding out the Griffin news. But with Skenes back on track, that optimism should persist.
The fact is that the Pirates still have one of the best offenses in baseball this season, with or without Griffin's bat in the lineup. The biggest issue is and remains their pitching. The starters have mostly held their own this year, and the bullpen has come up short, as was the case in the team's most recent loss to the Braves.
Which means you can expect the reigning Cy Young winner and team ace to carry the weight of a playoff push the rest of the season. That's what the best pitchers and MVP players do, and that's what Skenes will do in Griffin's absence.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Jacob is a featured writer covering the Pittsburgh Steelers for Steelers On SI and the NHL for Breakaway On SI. He also co-hosts the All Steelers Talk podcast. Previous work covering the NHL for Inside the Penguins and The Hockey News.