CINCINNATI (AP) — Paul Skenes quickly shrugged off the shortest start of his dominant major league career.

Pirates fans shouldn’t worry either after Skenes returned to form on Wednesday.

The reigning NL Cy Young winner allowed one run in five innings and struck out five in the Pirates’ 8-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

“I’m pretty insulated from a lot of stuff that’s out there. The stuff that I do see or hear, I don’t really care anyway because it doesn’t have anything to do with the play. I’m just thinking about getting back to execution and executing my pitches,” Skenes said. “Nothing matters except for the game and the pitches.”

Skenes walked Cincinnati’s TJ Friedl, then retired eight straight, including three strikeouts. He walked Friedl twice in three innings before Elly De La Cruz singled for the Reds’ first hit. Two batters later, Nathaniel Lowe doubled in De La Cruz, ending Skenes’ 31-inning scoreless streak against Cincinnati.

Skenes’ scoreless run was the fourth-longest by a Pirates pitcher against an opponent since 1961. Vernon Law holds the mark, blanking the Mets for 40 innings during 1965-66.

The right-hander retired four of the last five batters he faced and departed after throwing 77 pitches, including 51 strikes.

“Definitely progress. Nice to get some volume and be out there for more than two-thirds,” said Skenes, who improved to 5-0 with a 0.53 ERA in six career starts against the Reds. He has 45 strikeouts and only four walks while holding Cincinnati to a .197 batting average.

Further helping Skenes, the Pirates gave strong run support, scoring three in the first on Oneil Cruz’s homer to right.

“With Skenes on the mound, you hate to give them anything early because you know you’re going to have to fight to get anything you can get,” Reds manager Terry Francona said.

Manager Don Kelly said he wanted to avoid overworking Skenes early, especially after his 37-pitch, two-thirds-inning start in the Mets’ opening day win on Thursday. Skenes allowed five runs, tying a career high, with two walks and a strikeout in the 11-7 loss.

“When you’re going off one outing and 37 pitches, we had targeted 80 for him,” Kelly said. “It was something that we need Paul for the long haul, and he did a great job getting through five. As we go, he’s going to be throwing more than five (innings) and 77 (pitches).”

Skenes has a 2.10 ERA through his first 57 starts, the fourth-best mark by any pitcher since 1920. It is also the lowest mark by a Pittsburgh hurler in any span of 57 starts since Babe Adams had a 2.06 ERA between 1918 and ’20.

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CINCINNATI (AP) — Oneil Cruz had a three-run homer, his third in two games, Paul Skenes allowed one run in five innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Cincinnati Reds 8-3 on Wednesday to take the three-game series.

Bryan Reynolds had a two-run shot, and Nick Gonzales added a two-run double during the ninth inning.

Eugenio Suárez had a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the sixth inning for the Reds.

Cruz went 5 for 13 with three home runs and six RBIs in the series. The power-hitting outfielder has gone deep nine times in the 19 games he has played in Cincinnati.

Reds starter Andrew Abbott (0-1) retired the first two Pirates hitters before Bryan Reynolds singled to right and Marcell Ozuna drew a walk. Cruz then connected on a 2-1 curveball that was over the bottom part of the plate and drove it 407 feet over the wall in right field.

Skenes (1-1) returned to his All-Star form after giving up five runs in two-thirds of an inning last Thursday in the season opener against the New York Mets. The reigning NL Cy Young winner allowed three hits, walked two and struck out five.

The right-hander gave up two walks in the first three innings before Elly De La Cruz led off the fourth with a base hit to right. Two batters later, Nathaniel Lowe had an RBI double to right-center, snapping the Reds’ 31-inning scoreless streak against Skenes.

Pittsburgh took a 4-1 lead in the sixth when Cruz scored after Spencer Horwitz was walked by Connor Phillips with the bases loaded.

Suárez got the Reds within a run in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run homer to left, his second of the season.

Up next

Pirates: Have their home opener on Friday against Baltimore. RHP Mitch Keller (0-0, 0.00 ERA) gets the start.

Reds: Open a seven-game road trip on Friday against Texas. RHP Brady Singer (0-0, 6.75 ERA) makes his second start.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Nikolaj Ehlers scored the go-ahead goal with 7:18 remaining and the Carolina Hurricanes reached the 100-point mark for the fifth time in franchise history, defeating the reeling Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 on Tuesday night.

Ehlers added two assists as the Hurricanes remained tied with Buffalo for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov had a power-play goal and an assist. Shayne Gostisbehere and Logan Stankoven also scored with the man advantage, and Jordan Martinook added a short-handed, empty-net goal. Brandon Bussi stopped 23 shots.

The Hurricanes have scored at least one power-play goal in seven consecutive games for the first time since they had an eight-game run from Dec. 23, 2023 to Jan. 11, 2024. They have gone 11 of 23 during their current run, including 3 of 5 on Tuesday night.

Kirill Marchenko and Adam Fantilli scored for Columbus, which has dropped four straight and is 1-4-1 in its last six. Jet Greaves made 26 saves.

The only saving grace for the Blue Jackets is that they still have the East’s second wild-card spot at 88 points. Ottawa, Detroit and Philadelphia — which are two points behind Columbus — all lost Tuesday night.

Columbus fell behind 2-0 but evened it 2:07 into the third on Fantilli's one-timer at a tough angle in the right faceoff circle.

Ehlers and Carolina regained the lead at 12:42 when his slap shot from the top of the zone made its way through traffic and past Greaves. Columbus challenged thinking there was goalie interference but the goal was upheld.

Carolina went on the power play and went back up by two goals on Svechnikov's one-timer from the right faceoff circle.

Up next

The teams meet Thursday in Raleigh, North Carolina, for the fourth and final time in the regular season.

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CINCINNATI (AP) — Garrett Crochet allowed only three hits in six innings, Ceddanne Rafaela hit an RBI single in the seventh inning and the Boston Red Sox got their first opening day shutout since 2015, defeating the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 on Thursday.

Roman Anthony had three hits for the Red Sox, who had their 11th opening day shutout — with all but one on the road.

It's the ninth time the Reds have been blanked in an opener and the first since 2018. Rookie first baseman Sal Stewart had three of Cincinnati's four hits, including a pair of doubles.

Crochet (1-0) became the first pitcher to start on opening day in each of his first three seasons as a starter, according to MLB. The right-hander struck out six and walked two en route to his first victory in an opener.

Crochet allowed only one hit the first five innings before running into some trouble in the sixth. Matt McLain drew a walk with one out and singles by Elly de la Cruz and Stewart loaded the bases.

The right-hander struck out Eugenio Suárez and Spencer Steer to get out of the inning.

Former Reds closer Aroldis Chapman retired the side in the ninth for the save.

Andrew Abbott, the first lefty to start a Reds opener since 1998, matched Crochet with six shutout innings and struck out four.

Rafaela lined Pierce Johnson's fastball up the middle to drive in Marcelo Mayer. Mayer came on as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and drove a double to the warning track in left center off Johnson (0-1) that was just beyond the outstretched glove of Reds center fielder TJ Friedl.

Mayer advanced to third on Carlos Narváez's sacrifice bunt before scoring on Rafaela's second single of the game.

Boston added a pair of runs in the ninth on RBI singles by Trevor Story and Jaren Duran.

Up next

Red Sox RHP Sonny Gray (14-8, 4.28 ERA in 2025) will face Reds RHP Brady Singer (14-12, 4.03 ERA in 2025) on Saturday.

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