Pittsburgh Pirates at Tampa Bay Rays

· Major League Baseball

Pittsburgh Pirates

2-5, 2-5 Away

Final
4 - 2

Tampa Bay Rays

4-2, 4-2 Home

Paul Skenes earns his first victory of the season, Pirates beat Rays 4-2

Oneil Cruz crushes solo homer for Pirates

Oneil Cruz hit his second home run of the season and drove in another to give Skenes, the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year, his first win of 2025.

The 22-year-old right-hander did not walk a batter and was on the mound when the Rays scored an unearned run in the sixth. Isaiah Kiner-Falefa’s throwing error on Jonn DeLuca’s ground ball allowed the Rays their only runner in scoring position against Skenes. He scored on Brandon Lowe’s groundout.

Skenes generated 13 swings-and-misses, but did not strike out his first batter until the third inning, a career first for him.

Ryan Pepiot pitched five innings for the Rays, allowing two runs on five hits, striking out three and walking three.

Key Moment With one out in the top of the fifth, Cruz drove a changeup from Ryan Pepiot 391 feet to left-center field to give the Pirates a two-run lead.

Key Stat It was the first time in his career that Skenes went the first two innings of a game without recording a strikeout. His first strikeout came with two outs in the third inning when he got Lowe to swing and miss on three pitches.

Up Next The Pirates head back to Pittsburgh to open their season at PNC Park on Friday against the New York Yankees with RHP Mitch Keller on the mound.

The Tampa Bay Rays head to Texas with Zack Littell set to face RHP Tyler Mahle.

How can I watch Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Tampa Bay Rays?

TV Channel: Pirates at Rays 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Morel flied out to right.
	9th Inning	Morel hit for Caballero
	9th Inning	Aranda walked.
	9th Inning	Caminero grounded out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Mangum lined out to third.
	9th Inning	Santana relieved Borucki

Statistics

PIT		TB
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
2	Hit By Pitch	0
14	Ground Balls	13
5	Strikeouts	8
4	Runs Batted In	2
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
8	Hits	4
2	Stolen Bases	1
3	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
4	Runs	2
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
1	Sacrifice Flies	0
33	At Bats	31
1	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
16	Runners Left On Base	7
1	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
0	Doubles	0
15	Fly Balls	10
1	Caught Stealing	0
147	Pitches	149
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	2
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	1
13	Total Bases	4
39	Plate Appearances	33
162.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
2	Extra Base Hits	0
4.9	Runs Created	0.1
.242	Batting Average	.129
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.394	Slugging Percentage	.129
.273	Secondary Average	.097
.333	On Base Percentage	.182
.727	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.311
0.9	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.3
4.9	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	0.1
31.5	Batter Rating	13.0
33.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.67	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.77	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.52
.152	Isolated Power	.000
0.60	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.25
.077	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.061
.030	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.032
8.0	Runs Produced	4.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.5	Patience Ratio	0.2
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.2
82.3	MLB Rating	63.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0