PITTSBURGH — Facing Paul Skenes on a tropical island would be a hellish experience.
The Padres had to do it Tuesday on a night that was just about frozen over.
The reigning National League Cy Young winner, in his first start against the Padres, was fairly masterful before departing with one out in the seventh inning after Xander Bogaerts hit the first home run off any Pirates starting pitcher this season.
But the Padres could not get anything more, and the Pirates added five runs in the eighth inning to secure a 7-1 victory.
That halted the Padres’ winning streak at three games and was their first loss at PNC Park since 2023.
The temperature when Skenes threw his first pitch Tuesday was officially 41, though it felt colder. It was 35 degrees and was said to feel like 29 when Bogaerts sent his final pitch 385 feet to the seats beyond left field.
In between, Fernando Tatis Jr. singled with one out in the sixth, the Padres walked twice and Skenes hit a batter.
In winning 11 of 12 games against the Pirates the past two seasons, the Padres avoided facing Skenes in any of the four series the teams played.
On Tuesday, he became the second 2025 Cy Young winner they faced in 2026, after the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal allowed one unearned run over six innings on opening day.
Nick Pivetta was the Padres’ starter and the losing pitcher in both games.
His two outings were very different.
Pivetta lasted just three innings and allowed six runs on March 26. On Tuesday, he was as good as Skenes for a portion of the game.
Through three innings, they had thrown the same number of pitches and had the same number of strikeouts.
The only hit to that point should not have been one.
Henry Davis, the Pirates’ ninth batter, saw nine pitches and hit the last of them high into right field. First baseman Gavin Sheets backpedaled while Fernando Tatis Jr. came in, but neither seemed to know exactly where the ball was as it fell to the grass between them and Davis got to second base with a double.
Pivetta ended the third inning by getting a groundout on the next pitch, his 43rd.
Skenes got through the fourth in 10 pitches, however, while Pivetta finished the inning with a nine-pitch walk to Ryan O’Hearn and a nine-pitch strikeout of Nick Yorke and walked off the mound a fourth time pounding his bare hand against his glove having thrown 69 pitches in all.
With three ground balls toward third base, the Pirates broke through against Pivetta in the fifth.
The first was a grounder by Spencer Horwitz through a vacant spot with Manny Machado shifted toward shortstop. The second was a grounder Konner Griffin beat into the grass and just beat out Machado’s throw. The third was a two-out double Oneil Cruz grounded just inside the bag and just beyond Machado’s grasp that scored both runners.
The Padres did have three baserunners before their first hit, as Skenes walked Manny Machado to start the second inning and hit Miguel Andujar with two outs in the fifth.
After Jake Cronenworth walked to start the sixth and was erased on Ramón Laureano’s fielder’s choice grounder, Tatis grounded a single through the left side to give the Padres runners at first and second.
But Jackson Merrill followed by hitting a hard grounder to second base that started an inning-ending double play.
Boagerts’ first home run of the season, which cut the Pirates’ lead to 2-1, came after Machado began the seventh with a lineout to center field.
That brought Pirates manager Don Kelly out to get Skenes, who for the 25th time in 58 starts completed at least six innings while allowing just one run.