Pirates drop series with Cubs; Skenes shelled for three homers

PITTSBURGH — This article originally appeared on PGHBaseballNOW.com.

The Pittsburgh Pirates fell 8-3 to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday, May 1, dropping the game and the series after Paul Skenes allowed a trio of home runs in the fifth inning.

Although Skenes wasn’t at his sharpest — just 57 percent of his pitches went for strikes, down from an average of 66 percent on the season — Pirates (12-20) took a 2-0 lead after three innings thanks to a Bryan Reynolds home run and an RBI double from Oneil Cruz.

Chicago got to Skenes in the fifth inning, however, charging him with a trio of solo home runs, then the Cubs built on their lead in the seventh with a two-run homer from Seiya Suzuki, his second of the game. While the Pirates put together a comeback attempt in the eighth inning, they managed just one run after putting two runners in scoring position with no outs.

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