There is always that one team that just always has your number. No matter how hard you try and how great of a game you play, the team that always seems to beats you finds a way. That’s the cloud that now begins to swirl around Pirates ace Paul Skenes.

Skenes is the face of this Pirates franchise and those pesky red birds always seem to get the upper hand on him. However, despite Skenes not getting a victory when facing the division rival, it is not entirely his fault.

Will Skenes Ever Get a Win Against the Cardinals?

That first win will come eventually. It would be super hard to believe that Skenes would go his entire career without a win against them. But crazier things have happened. The tough part about this case to be made is that in all of the five starts he has pitched, four have them have been quite good. In fact, they’ve been so good that the Pirates COULD HAVE won those starts. Sure, the pitcher will get counted for the loss and that’s where the laughing pointing fingers will go, but at the end of the day Skenes has pitched as well as he could have against this Cardinals team.

Here is how the starts have gone:

6/11/24: 6.1 IP. 0 ER. 8K.

7/23/24: 8.1 IP. 2 ER. 8K. 1 HR.

9/16/24: 6.0 IP. 1 ER. 7K.

4/8/25: 6.0 IP. 6H. 5ER. 7K.

5/6/25: 6.0 IP. 3H. 2ER. 4BB. 7K.

As you can see, he has been quite good in four of those five. The five earned runs was one of the worst starts in his young career, but overall, he’s been dominant on the mound and has kept that offense in check. In the other four starts, he’s allowed a combined 5 earned runs, which is equal to his lone bad start against this clubs Sure, the latest start he had a walks problem, but he managed to get out of those jams and power through the outing. Sure, you can say “The Cardinals just know how to get to Skenes”. But the reality is that the Pirates bats are so bad that they literally give him no run support in these starts. Credit to the Cardinals pitching staff, but the Pirates bats not giving him run support is a larger reason for these losses that should not be put on Skenes himself.

Pirates Have Always Needed Bats

You have one of the best generational talents at the forefront of your rotation. Do not piss away his good starts due to the fact that there aren’t any runs to support him. That’s been quite evident in these starts and the lack of execution is largely a reason why.

As evidenced above, Skenes has been great in four of the five starts he has made against this Cardinals team. As for the Pirates, they’ve been quite bad in his starts and have scored just six runs in five starts and averaging a subpar one run per Skenes start against the Cardinals. To make matters worse, they’ve results at the plate are why the runs are not crossing home plate.

The Pirates have struck out a lot in these games and credit to the Cardinals starters. Their bats are doing just enough, whereas the Pirates are not. In these Skenes starts, the Pirates offense has struck out 44 times, which is abysmal averaging 8 per game.

The worst part is the fact that the games have been very close and getting the support should be there. But it’s not and it’s a lack of execution. Given the strikeouts, getting runners on base is quite hard. But even then, they’ve struggled with runners in scoring position.

Over these starts, the Pirates are 4-26 which is not good at all. If your pitcher is going to deliver on the mound, the bats need to deliver and give him the support that he deserves. But the big issue is that the Pirates lack impact bats outside the very few that are of impact. O’Neill Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, and Andrew McCutchen are great players. But outside of them it is bleak and the team collectively has been poor offensively. Here are their comparisons from 2024 and currently.

2024

AVG: 23rd

OBP: 26th

SLG: 27th

OPS: 27th

2025

AVG: 27th

OBP: 24th

SLG: 29th

OPS: 28th

So they struggle to hit more than they did a year ago. They are on base a bit more due to walks but still struggle for power and their team OPS is in the gutter. It isn’t even just a Skenes start thing, this is a team thing that’s been plagued by bad offense this season.

But will Skenes ever get a win against the Cardinals? He should, but the offense on the contrary says otherwise.