TORONTO — Mason Fluharty wanted a better view. Two years before Paul Skenes pitched in Toronto for the first time, Fluharty and a few other Blue Jays minor-league relievers moved to the dugout to catch a glimpse.
The Jays’ lefty, in Triple A at the time, didn’t want to admire Pittsburgh’s top prospect from the bullpen that day. A talent like Skenes was best seen up close. Fluharty’s first takeaways, from Skenes’ six strong innings in April 2024, were that the righty was “a once in a lifetime talent” and “electric.” But, with the Buffalo Bisons winning 4-3 that day, Fluharty also learned that generational talents can still lose.
“It’s baseball,” Fluharty said. “Everybody can get beat.”
In Toronto’s 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday, Fluharty was reminded again. The Jays extended their season-high win streak to four games as their offence collected hits and Patrick Corbin improbably outdueled Skenes.
In five innings against Toronto, Paul Skenes allowed four runs and struck out two batters. (Tara Walton / Getty Images)
“To win a game like this is huge,” Corbin said. “To keep that momentum going that we have right now.”
Three pitches into the bottom of Saturday’s first inning, Fluharty had the best view again. The lefty couldn’t watch from the dugout this time, instead sitting with a navy sweater on in the left-field bullpen. As George Springer connected on a high fastball, sending a fly ball towering toward Fluharty, the lefty reliever raised his arm in celebration. Skenes, who has thrown four scoreless outings already this season, was down 1-0 early.
The Jays knew they were destined for a challenge on Saturday. Odds, surely, were not in Toronto’s favour when facing an undeniable ace. It was a “hard hat and lunch pail” sort of day, manager John Schneider said, against the reigning National League ERA leader and Cy Young winner.
“Try to grind him down as much as you can,” Schneider said before the game. “You got to take advantage when you get guys on.”
The Jays, to beat Skenes, required the sort of blue-collar at-bats that defined the team’s success last season. Few Jays hitters better embody that peskiness than Nathan Lukes. The outfielder, who is on the injured list due to a hamstring strain, is a contact machine. He’s worked 14-pitch at-bats, drawing gasps from the crowd, and frustrates opposing pitchers with foul-offs.
It was, perhaps unsurprisingly, Lukes that lifted the Bisons in that April 2024 start that Fluharty watched from the dugout. He collected four of Buffalo’s nine hits that night.
“I remember Lukey owned him,” Fluharty said.
But with their pesky outfielder on the shelf, the Jays had to embody his approach without him.
“He’s the approach,” Schneider said. “A stubborn approach, contact-oriented. … That’s kind of how you have to go after Skenes.”
Jesús Sánchez fidgeted in the box after taking ball three in the sixth inning. It was the eighth pitch of his at-bat against Skenes, following four foul-offs and a few takes. Finally, Sánchez reached for a low changeup, lashing the pitch to right field to score Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and put the Jays back up, 2-1. It was a lead they never relinquished. Skenes’ day ended in the next at-bat.
On 98 pitches, Skenes earned just seven whiffs from the Jays. They worked him for a walk, battled through at-bats, tacked on four runs and got the righty out of the game in the sixth. Skenes posted just two shorter outings this year. Toronto’s nine hits against Skenes were the most he’s ever allowed. The Jays did Lukes proud.
“It was pretty relentless,” Schneider said. “It’s not easy to rack up nine hits against him, and keep the strikeouts down, too.”
And yet, getting four runs off Skenes wasn’t the full improbability of Saturday’s win. While the Pirates had their ace, the Jays turned to their fourth (really seventh) starter. Corbin, who the Jays signed in April to help save an injury-filled rotation, was tasked with matching one of the league’s best pitchers.
A thin layer of sweat glazed Corbin’s face as the lefty threw his final few warm-up tosses before the start, as if he were locked into a duel before the game even began. Corbin hasn’t posted an ERA under 4.40 since 2019, and yet he was the starter who looked ace-like at Rogers Centre.
The lefty got out of the first inning on just 13 pitches, freezing Marcell Ozuna with a low fastball to end the frame. He worked through Pittsburgh’s batters with ease, pitching six innings with just one run allowed and seven strikeouts. He used their aggressiveness against them, dropping changeups and sliders outside the zone for swinging strikes. Corbin racked up 15 swings and misses in the start, more than doubling Skenes’ total.
Corbin has been the feared starter before. He earned Cy Young votes in 2018 and 2019, striking out over 235 batters each year. Still, many years and many starts later, it’s Skenes’ turn at the top of baseball. The Pittsburgh righty may go on to win his second Cy Young and carve through opposing lineups this year, but it didn’t happen on Saturday.
As Fluharty learned in Triple A, anybody can be beaten.
