Rockies confounded by Paul Skenes, held to two hits

Rockies Report, Game 42:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: Paul Skenes held the Rockies without a hit through 6 1/3 innings Tuesday night before Mickey Moniak finally dropped a single just out of the reach of a lunging Oneil Cruz, and in the end went eight dominant innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates turned back the Rockies 3-1 in their series opener at PNC Park on Tuesday night.

The former Air Force Academy standout never let Colorado’s batters out of the hangar, ultimately striking out 10 Rockies without a walk. He yielded just three baserunners on two hits and one hit batter, when he plunked Troy Johnston in the fifth inning.

“He’s really good,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer told media after the game.

“He’s attacking the strike zone. His fastballs were really good early. The approach angle, the deception is real. He’s very good second time through, started going through his other stuff. Everything for strikes, so we had to be aggressive, so. he was efficient.”

Thought you might want to watch this hit for no reason at all… pic.twitter.com/U55pyBwH5K

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) May 13, 2026

Troy Johnston joined Moniak as the only other Rockie with a hit at Skenes’ expense reaching base with an eighth-inning double. Skenes needed just 98 pitches to make it through eight innings before turning it over to closer Gregory Soto.

But it was at that point that the Rockies clawed back. With two outs, Jordan Beck checked in for pinch-hit duty and successfully slugged through a 10-pitch duel against Pirates closer Gregory Soto in the ninth inning, hooking a two-strike double down the left-field line to extend the game.

“That’s not easy to come off the bench and hit — especially after a game like that,” Schaeffer said. “And to face Gregory Soto like that, Beck fought and fought, and it shows he’s still in the fight, man and he’s still grinding it out. We love that.”

Hunter Goodman brought Beck home with an RBI double six pitches later, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of TJ Rumfield.

But one pitch later, the hope of a rally fizzled as Rumfield grounded out to Brandon Lowe. Colorado fell to 16-26 and now sits 10 games below .500 for the first time this season. They’ve lost nine of their last 11 games, including three of four on this road trip.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

Getting away from Coors Field did Michael Lorenzen some good.

He didn’t go long enough to qualify for a quality start, only pitching five innings before giving way to Seth Halvorsen after 85 pitches, but after a troublesome first inning that opened by allowing a leadoff double to Cruz before surrendering a walk and a single that eventually brought Cruz home, he didn’t encounter any real difficulty until the fifth inning, when Cruz’s second double of the night set up Brandon Lowe, who reached low and below the zone to poke an RBI single to right field. Cruz beat Tyler Freeman’s throw to Goodman and home plate, and a second run landed on Lorenzen’s ledger.

Lorenzen’s ERA is 4.26 on the road and 9.64 in Denver.

“The breaking balls were good; I thought he was attacking very well,” Schaeffer said.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Rumfield was retired in one pitch after the back-to-back doubles from Beck and Goodman.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 0 — Walks for Rockies batters in the last two games.

WHAT’S NEXT: Jose Quintana looks to carry the momentum from his recent starts into Wednesday night’s contest at PNC Park. Pittsburgh will counter with Mitch Keller; the Pirates have won four-consecutive st

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