Cubs 11, Pirates 0: Crow-Armstrong Piles On Against Skenes

Eleven strikeouts for Skenes. Eleven runs for Chicago.

July 25, 2026 – Pittsburgh – Paul Skenes punched out 11 and still left with a five-spot on the card. That is the kind of night PNC Park will remember for the wrong reasons.

Pete Crow-Armstrong went 4-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs, a triple short of the cycle. Shota Imanaga (7-8) worked six scoreless. And the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-0, per the Associated Press.

Sixteen hits. Zero drama after the fifth.

Solved him in the fifth, buried him in the sixth

Skenes (9-9) had Chicago swinging through four innings. Then Crow-Armstrong’s RBI double and Seiya Suzuki’s two-run single made it 3-0 in the fifth. The sixth chased him: Dansby Swanson’s RBI double, Miguel Amaya’s two-run single, Michael Busch’s two-run single. Crow-Armstrong’s two-run homer in the seventh (No. 23) pushed it to double digits.

Javier Assad finished three innings for his first save. Jake Mangum was the only Pirate to reach second against Imanaga.

AthX Engine

AthX Engine put the Cubs at 25 team fantasy points, first on Saturday. Crow-Armstrong led all hitters at 16 FP. Imanaga graded 21 pitching FP. Skenes’ 11 Ks still produced a losing line the board has to separate from the result.

Dynamic pricing will price Crow-Armstrong’s tear and Skenes’ next start differently for a reason.

What comes next

Chicago rolled into Sunday with a statement road win. Pittsburgh got the strikeouts and none of the outs that mattered late. On AthX, PCA’s 4-for-5 is the loud hold; Imanaga’s zeros are the quiet one.

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*Sources: MLB.com schedule, CBS Sports/AP recap, CBS Sports scoreboard, AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*