While the result was great, Skenes was not perfect, including getting himself into a hole in the fifth inning with reigning NL MVP Shohei Ohtani at the plate and a runner in scori

The 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers may feature the best lineup of all-time. Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes clearly doesn't care, though. On Friday night, Skenes turned in 6.1 innings of shutout baseball in Los Angeles while striking out nine Dodgers.

Oneil Cruz led off the game against Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3-2) with a walk and later stole second base. With two outs, Enmanuel Valdez singled to right field to plate Cruz and give the Pirates (11-16) a 1-0 lead.