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Springer, Sánchez, Piñango take down Pirates ace Paul Skenes
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Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Thomas Hall
May 23, 2026, 20:00 EDT
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TORONTO — The three offensive stars of the game — if such a thing existed in baseball — in Saturday’s 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates were, by far, George Springer, Jesús Sánchez and rookie Yohendrick Piñango.
Awarded the first offensive star of the contest is Springer, who set the tone for the entire afternoon against Pirates ace Paul Skenes, connecting on a leadoff home run — the 65th of his career — off a 97.8-m.p.h. four-seamer (the hardest pitch he’s homered against since July 2022) that travelled 396 feet to left field.
There seemed to be a clear game plan from the start for Springer — hunt the high heater. So, that’s just what he did, swinging at all three top-of-the-zone fastballs until he made contact with the third.
“[He] missed the first two and didn’t miss the third one,” manager John Schneider said of Springer’s approach against Skenes. “He’s trending in the right direction, man. He’s taken some good swings in the last week, and it’s good to get him rolling a little bit.”
It wound up being the first of nine hits off one of the game’s most elite hurlers, the most Skenes has ever surrendered through 66 career major-league starts. Pair that alongside his measly two strikeouts, tied for the second-fewest of his career, and this was one of the rare occasions where he looked relatively human on the mound.
“I thought our at-bats were awesome,” Springer said. “He’s elite, and he knows how to control every quadrant of the plate. I think over time guys were able to kind of stick to their plans and approaches.
“He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, so I thought it was a good offensive day for us as a whole.”
Springer laced another hit off Skenes in the fifth, also against a high-90s fastball, this time resulting in a two-out double. He had some of his most promising swings in a while during these high-octane matchups. It was probably the best he’s looked since before fracturing his big left toe last month.
The results had been subpar in the few weeks since his return from the injured list. But the 36-year-old slugger has appeared more comfortable in the batter’s box of late, now homering in three of his last six games — a span that’s included an 8-for-25 (.320) surge.
“I feel like I’m starting to slow things down more,” Springer said,” kind of starting to control the plate more. It’s going to take time. But at the end of the day, I understand [I’m playing injured]. I want to go out there and play, and I want to be productive.”
Another encouraging element from Springer’s performance versus Skenes is that he’s struggled against heaters at 95 m.p.h. and above, entering Thursday with a .222/.310/.397 slash line across 63 at-bats on the year.
Now, onto the second offensive star of the game: Jesús Sánchez.
The left-handed-hitting outfielder entered the day riding a bit of a heater, albeit quietly, slashing .458/.462/.583 with three doubles, five RBIs and a 192 wRC+ (100 league average) over his previous 10 games. Prior to the start of this three-game series versus Pittsburgh, however, there had barely been any hard contact. But these first two games against the Pirates have been a whole different story.
Sánchez produced a trio of hard-hit balls a night ago, then added two more on Saturday off Skenes to match his total in the nine games he played against the Rays, Tigers and Yankees from the last two weeks.
Earlier this week, Andrés Giménez wore down New York Yankees rising star Cam Schlittler with an 11-pitch, game-turning hit that ended the dominant right-hander’s night. It earned the consensus vote as the best at-bat of the season. But if that sits No. 1, then Sánchez’s nine-pitch, RBI double off Skenes deserves to be crowned as a close second.
After falling behind 0-2 early, Sánchez stayed in the fight, fouling off several tough pitches and exerting a few remarkable takes to draw the count full, then turning on a changeup well below the strike zone to put an exclamation mark on the Blue Jays’ rally that chased the Pirates’ superstar from the game.
“That’s an unbelievable at-bat, an unbelievable at-bat against an unbelievable guy, obviously,” Springer said of Sánchez’s sixth-inning double. “That’s just an incredible at-bat by him, right there.”
“I think Sánchez’s at-bat was probably one of the best ones today,” added Patrick Corbin, who, if we’re handing out stars on the pitching side, easily claimed top spot.
Rounding out the third offensive star of the game is Piñango, who also strung together a multi-hit performance — the fourth of his young big-league career, all coming in May. In fact, between him, Sánchez and Piñango, that trio accounted for two-thirds of the career-high nine hits allowed by Skenes.
The 24-year-old rookie continues to handle himself quite nicely in his 22-game sample size with the club. He didn’t look phased in any of his three matchups versus the reigning National League Cy Young winner. It was just another day at the office for the emerging rookie, who went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored as Toronto’s clean-up hitter.
There’s so much that he’s brought to this offence since arriving from Triple-A Buffalo. His elite bat speed (75.3 m.p.h.), for example, which trails only Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s (76.2) for the team lead this season.
“He’s been swinging the bat well; he swings the bat hard,” Springer said of Piñango. “He hits the ball hard. I think the way he navigates his at-bats have been unbelievable. He knows what he needs to do.
“I think the more he plays, the more he kind of sees guys, the more he gets comfortable in this environment and the better he’s become.”
As Nathan Lukes, who could be activated from the IL on Monday, and Addison Barger inch closer to rejoining the Blue Jays’ crowded outfield, another tough decision regarding Piñango’s fate may lie ahead. This time around could be different, though.
Schneider said before the game that “performance” will lead the organization’s decision when it’s time to make room for their returning players. Lineup balance will factor into that final call, too. Given how much of a spark Piñango — now hitting .313/.353/.422 with a 121 wRC+ (100 league average) this season — is providing right now, there’s at least a decent chance history won’t repeat itself a second time.

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