Phillies Take Down Paul Skenes to Get Past Break Even Point
· Yahoo Sports
A month and a half ago, the 2026 season was shaping up to be a lost year for the Philadelphia Phillies. At one point, the team was 9-19, had fired their manager, was in the basement of the National League East, and was struggling across the board.
The Phillies got back to .500 with their win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday evening, and had a chance to creep above that breaking point for the first time since April 7, when Philly owned a 6-5 record.
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The only thing standing in their way of getting to that point was the best pitcher on the planet, Paul Skenes, who took the mound for the Pirates during Sunday’s series finale.
Pittsburgh’s ace entered that start with a 1.98 ERA and a 0.64 WHIP, but the Phillies gave Skenes one of his roughest outings of the season.
Philly ended up scoring five earned runs on six hits, tying Skenes’ season high for most earned runs allowed on the season. After this, starting against Philadelphia, his ERA jumped over half a run to a 2.62
The Phillies scored their runs of Skenes in a variety of ways. Justin Crawford hit in a run via a sacrifice groundout, Trea Turner logged an RBI single, and Bryce Harper finished it off with a three-run home run to deep center field.
May 17, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Brandon Marsh (16) and third baseman Alec Bohm (28) celebrate after both players scored runs against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the sixth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images“I thought we battled. right? And I thought we were just fought him, and that's what you had to do with guys like that,” said manager Don Mattingly after the game.
“He's gonna get his outs. He’s gonna make his pitches, but you gotta, you gotta keep fighting and just keep fouling off, trying to fight to get something. And I thought we kind of did that up and down the order, where you keep putting pressure on him to have to make pitches.”
The Phillies are currently on a stretch where they’ve logged 15 wins and just four losses in their last 19 games. After this run, Philly’s percentage of reaching the playoffs is up to 65.2 percent according to FanGraphs.
There’s still a lot of work to do, but this performance against the Pirates and Skenes proves this is a much different team than the beginning of the season.
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