Paul Skenes strikes out 9, wins duel with Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Pirates' 3-0 victory over Dodgers

Updated Apr. 26, 2025 12:54 a.m. ET

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul Skenes pitched 6 1/3 innings of five-hit ball with a season-high nine strikeouts, winning his duel with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 3-0 victory over the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.

Emmanuel Valdez, Oneil Cruz and Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in runs for the Pirates, who have won three of four on their Southern California trip after Skenes came out on top in this tantalizing mound matchup.

Skenes (3-2), an Orange County native, won in the Los Angeles metroplex for the first time while his family and friends watched from a Dodger Stadium suite.

Pittsburgh's 22-year-old ace allowed just one runner to reach third while throwing a career-high 108 pitches, and he retired Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts three times apiece.

Yamamoto (3-2) labored through five innings, yielding five hits, four walks and three runs — just one earned. He had allowed only one unearned run over 19 innings in his previous three starts combined.

The Dodgers have lost three straight and four of five after opening a six-game homestand with only their third home defeat in 13 games this season.

Pittsburgh got to Yamamoto immediately in a 32-pitch first inning. Cruz walked, stole second and scored on Valdez's two-out single.

Henry Davis reached second on Max Muncy's throwing error in the fifth and scored on Cruz's 117.6 mph single. Hayes added an RBI single before Yamamoto escaped.

After Andy Pages doubled in the fifth, Skenes struck out Ohtani with a knee-buckling curve.

Key moment

Freddie Freeman doubled leading off the fourth and kept going to third when Bryan Reynolds lost the ball. Skenes kept Freeman there, getting a short groundout, a strikeout and an inning-ending fly.