Paul Skenes picks up career 1st as Pirates pick off pair of Reds in series-opener

That the Cincinnati Reds lead MLB in stolen bases, with shortstop Elly De La Cruz atop the league’s individual leaderboards, was not lost on anyone in the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse ahead of a three-game series at PNC Park between the two NL Central foes.

“We have to be on high alert,” manager Derek Shelton before first pitch Monday. “They’re athletic, they like to get after it so it’s just going to be something we’ve got to be extremely mindful of going into this series.”

Monday’s starter, Paul Skenes, took particular note of De La Cruz’s threatening presence on the bases.

“He told me before the game, ‘If Elly gets on, we’re picking three times in a row,’ ” first baseman Rowdy Tellez said. “I said, ‘All right, we’ll get him one of them.’ ”

De La Cruz went 3 for 4 in the 4-1 Pirates win, which included a sixth-inning leadoff single off Skenes.

Skenes promptly made good on his pregame conversation with Tellez, firing a pickoff attempt over to first base, with De La Cruz initially ruled safe on a headfirst slide attempt back to the bag.

But after a successful Pirates challenge, the call was overturned, handing Skenes his first big-league pickoff.

Paul Skenes' first career pickoff: Elly De La Cruz

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“He made a great throw,” Tellez said. “I think as a first baseman, my job is to let the ball travel as far as it can and make the tag. I can’t do that unless he makes a good throw. He put the throw on the money, and I did the rest.”

Skenes couldn’t pinpoint his last successful pickoff attempt other than recalling it was collegiately at LSU.

Skenes’ pickoff of De La Cruz proved to be potentially run-saving, as, two batters later, Spencer Steer ripped a single to center field, followed by a walk to Jake Fraley.

The crucial pickoff allowed Skenes to end the inning by fielding a soft grounder off the bat of Tyler Stephenson.

“That was good,” Skenes said of his pickoff attempt. “It’s something I worked really hard on, so it’s nice to get the out there.”

Skenes (4-0, 2.29 ERA) picked up the win, pitching six innings and allowing a run with one walk and seven strikeouts.

Shelton was impressed by how Skenes got out of a potential jam in the sixth.

“Two things: No. 1, you get the premiere base stealer in baseball out on the pick. Just shows you how athletic (Skenes) is,” Shelton said. “And then the play he makes to end the sixth is a really athletic play. This guy’s a big guy, but he’s a good athlete.”

De La Cruz singled again in the eighth and successfully swiped a bag with Colin Holderman on the mound, one of two stolen bases by the Reds on the night, but the Pirates recorded another successful pickoff before the end of the game.

Aroldis Chapman took over for Skenes in the seventh and plunked the first batter he faced, Nick Martini.

Chapman soon redeemed himself, picking off Martini, who was retired in a rundown soon thereafter.

Chapman’s pickoff was his team-leading fourth of the year and 18th of his career.

The successful pickoff tied his career-high set in 2011 with the Reds, and he ranks second in the league this season behind Atlanta’s Charlie Morton (five).

Chapman, whose triple-digit fastball speed contrasts significantly with a slower windup, was challenged by the Pirates’ pitching staff to improve his pickoff move this year.

Suffice to say, he took it to heart, with tangible results.

“I think the game said that we need to make an adjustment there, and so we’ve talked to him aggressively about making sure that we’re doing a good job of mixing in quicker steps but also some pickoff moves,” Pirates bullpen coach Justin Meccage said in May. “He’s actually got a decent one. It catches (runners) off-guard for the most part, most of the time. And he has the ability to be quick to the plate.”