Nick Gonzales tied a career high with four RBI for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who used a big second inning to hand Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher James Paxton (5-1) a 10-6 loss, his first of the season.
After the game, Paxton spoke his first loss as a member of the Dodgers:
Despite Wednesday's poor outing, Paxton has been a surprise this season for a Dodgers team that brought in multiple high-profile players like Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
After dealing with injuries that saw him bounce around between the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox in the last three seasons, he's found a home with the Dodgers, and was the team's last remaining unbeaten starter.
Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani gets revenge against Pirates' Paul Skenes
Wednesday night at PNC Park featured a highly anticipated showdown between phenoms Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and it more than delivered.
In just his fifth career start, Paul Skenes faced the NL West-leading Dodgers. He began dominantly, striking out Mookie Betts on four pitches.
When he faced Shohei Ohtani next, the encounter can only be described as explosive. The rookie Skenes fired three lasers at the two-way sensation Ohtani. The first pitch was a 101.3 mph swinging strike, followed by a 100.1 mph swinging strike with a foul tip, and finally, a 100.8 mph swinging strike. It's rare to see Ohtani look as overmatched as he did in this face-off.
The Skenes-Ohtani rematch came in the third inning, with the Pirates leading the Dodgers 7-0 after Paxton's rough early-innings stretch.
With Mookie Betts on first base. Skenes fired two fast balls that whiffed, but on a full count, Ohtani connected with a 100.1 mph fastball, sending it to dead center for a two-run home run.
Ohtani's hit left the bat at 105.6 mph, per Statcast, and traveled 415 feet. It marked the second-longest hit ball on a pitch over 100 mph this season, with Ian Happ's 425-foot shot off a Ryan Helsley pitch on May 26 being the longest.
It's among the rare errors Skenes has made, merely narrowing the Pirates' lead to 7-2. Ohtani struck again later in the game, singling to right in the fifth inning to advance two runners in a 7-3 game.
With Skenes' emergence as one of the electric young stars in the game, watching him go head-to-head with Ohtani – and each player winning one matchup – was riveting baseball.
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