Paul Skenes' striking out Shohei Ohtani baffles fans in Dodgers' 3-0 loss vs. Pirates
In a marquee matchup between Pirates ace Paul Skenes and Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese superstar was made to look foolish. Fans were baffled by Skenes' nasty curveball that made Ohtani's bat swing look like he was playing golf.
Skenes was clinical in his start under the bright lights of Los Angeles as he claimed his third win of the year. The young ace shut out the reigning champions in 6 and 1/3 innings of work, giving up just five hits while striking out nine batters.
The event happened during the fifth inning of the contest. With a man in scoring position, two outs and a 3-2 count, the NL Rookie of the Year got the NL MVP to bite his curveball. This set off a chain of surprised reactions on X.
"Nasty work," one fan said.
"Not easy to strike out Ohtani," a fan shared.
"Got Shohei's number tonight," a fan pointed out.
It was a dismal shift for the Dodgers' superstar as he finished the night at 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
"Not many people on this planet can make Ohtani look like that," a fan noted.
"People should know skenes no joke at pitching," one fan shared.
"SKENEY BABYYYYYY," a fan showed support for Skenes.
Through a consolidated effort, the Pirates overcame the reigning champions to open their three-game series in Hollywood.
Dodgers shutout by Pirates
In a surprising turn of events, the defending World Series champion LA Dodgers got shut down by the Paul Skenes-powered Pittsburgh Pirates. The champions could only muster up six base hits and went for an abysmal 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Skenes struck out nine Dodgers batters in 6.1 innings while only giving up five base hits. The team's relief crew then held their end of the bargain as they would give up just one more hit without allowing any runs to finish the contest.
Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a respectable outing himself. He gave up just three runs (one earned) on five base hits with five strikeouts in five innings. However, the offense just failed to click in the contest.
Emmanuel Valdez started the scoring in the first inning with an RBI single that drove home Oneil Cruz. Four innings later, Cruz himself recorded an RBI single that brought in Henry Davis. Finally, Ke'Bryan Hayes' RBI single in the same inning brought the lead to three. It would be the final score tallied in the game as the Pirates were victorious, 3-0.