Paul Skenes fell behind in the count 3-1 to Shohei Ohtani in Friday's fifth inning and could think only one thing: "Crap." At that point, the Pittsburgh Pirates' young ace thought he had nothing to lose.

The Pirates win, anchored by Skenes, drops the Dodgers to 16-10 and gives them their second three-game losing streak of 2025. They remain in third place in the hotly contested NL West. Pittsburgh, meantime, improve to 11-16 but remain in last place in the NL Central.

Pittsburgh’s 22-year-old ace from Orange County pitches 6⅓ innings with a season-high nine strikeouts and wins in the L.A. area for the first time, handing the Dodgers their fourth loss in five