Skenes Owned Four Innings

Paul Skenes struck out nine through four scoreless innings. Then the Cubs turned a pitching duel into an 11-0 final that will make the first hour look fictional in the box score.

Skenes had Chicago chasing and missing early, and Shota Imanaga matched him with zeros. The game was still scoreless entering the fifth. Pittsburgh had the ace, the home crowd and every reason to believe one clean swing might be enough.

Chicago’s response was to score in four consecutive innings and remove all suspense with unusual enthusiasm.

The Fifth and Sixth Changed Everything

Pete Crow-Armstrong opened the scoring with an RBI double in the fifth, then Seiya Suzuki drove in two more. Three runs were manageable. The five-run sixth was not.

Dansby Swanson doubled home a run, Miguel Amaya singled home two, and Michael Busch added another two-run single. The Cubs moved from waiting out Skenes to treating every reliever like the next open checkout lane.

Crow-Armstrong kept going. He hit a two-run homer in the seventh and finished 4-for-5 with two doubles, three runs and three RBIs. Chicago totaled 16 hits, and James Triantos collected his first major league hit in his debut before scoring on Pedro Ramirez’s eighth-inning double.

Imanaga Made the Margin Excessive

The Desk’s Late Run Share metric was 100 percent: all 11 Chicago runs came after the fourth inning.

That number captures the offensive transformation, but it also hides how little Imanaga needed. The left-hander threw six scoreless innings, allowed four hits, struck out four and walked one. Javier Assad covered the final three innings for the save and completed the shutout.

Pittsburgh never forced Chicago to spend any of its new cushion. The Pirates managed six hits, went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and watched the entire shape of the game reverse after Skenes’ early dominance.

This was not a story about getting to Skenes. It was about surviving him, reaching everything behind him and having a starter who made patience affordable.

The Completely Unbiased Verdict

Desk ruling: Four scoreless innings were not a warning that Chicago’s offense had disappeared. They were the loading screen. Crow-Armstrong supplied the complete game, Imanaga removed Pittsburgh’s path back, and the Cubs scored every run after the moment this looked like a duel. An 11-run avalanche is impressive. Waiting until the fifth to begin it is just rude timing.