The Associated Press The Pirates’ Oneil Cruz throws his arm guards after striking out to end the top of the fourth inning against the Seattle Mariners.

SEATTLE — Randy Arozarena homered, George Kirby tossed 6 1/3 crisp innings and the Seattle Mariners shut out the punchless Pirates for the third straight game, winning 1-0 on Sunday as Pittsburgh wasted another strong start by All-Star Paul Skenes.

Arozarena hit his 14th long ball of the season and sixth in seven games when he turned on a low fastball in the sixth inning from reliever Carmen Mlodzinski (2-6).

Skenes had a short but effective outing, striking out 10 and allowing five hits in five innings. He threw 52 of his 78 pitches for strikes and lowered his ERA to 1.94 but is just 4-7 this season.

Pittsburgh was beaten 6-0 on Friday and 1-0 on Saturday during its scoreless weekend in Seattle. Before making the trip, the Pirates blanked St. Louis three straight times at home. The streak of playing in six straight shutouts is tied for the longest in major league history.

Kirby (3-4) struck out nine, allowed four singles and walked none.

Andres Munoz, named an AL All-Star on Sunday, worked the ninth for his 21st save, which is one shy of his career high.

Key moment

The Mariners came close to taking a 1-0 lead in the first on a single by Jorge Polanco, but Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz made a 105.2 mph throw to nab Seattle’s J.P. Crawford at the plate. It was the second-hardest thrown ball to produce an outfield assist since Statcast started tracking in 2015.

“It was unbelievable, honestly, one of the best plays that I’ve seen live,” Pirates interim manager Don Kelly said. “To be able to make that going that way and across his body and throw back to home as accurate as it was, just an amazing play.”

Key stat

Polanco’s hit was the 1,000th of his career.

Saturday’s game

Ben Williamson had an RBI double in the sixth inning, Luis Castillo tossed seven innings, and the Mariners beat the Pirates 1-0 on Saturday night.

Williamson, who came in with just one RBI since May 29, patiently waited on a cutter down in the zone from Pirates reliever Caleb Ferguson (0-3) and smacked it into the right-center gap to put the Mariners in front.

It was the only run they needed with Castillo (5-5) easily going through the Pirates’ lineup.

The right-hander gave up two singles while striking out a season-high eight. He needed just 99 pitches to tie his season-high for innings.

Matt Brash pitched the eighth, and Andres Munoz got the last three outs for his 20th save.

Pirates starter Mike Burrows gave up three hits and walked four while striking out six in five innings.

Just two hitters into the game, Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen got a hold of a four-seam fastball from Castillo. Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez raced to and collided with the wall in left-center field to take extra bases away from McCutchen.

Castillo went at least seven innings for the 20th time in 92 starts with the Mariners.

Up next

Pirates left-hander Andrew Heaney (4-7, 4.16 ERA) starts Monday night at Kansas City.