ST. LOUIS (AP) — Andre Pallante outdueled rookie Paul Skenes, striking out a career-high nine over seven innings to lead the St. Louis Cardinals over the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 on Monday night.
“I'm very focused on me versus the hitters," Pallante said. “I'm just trying to pitch the best I can regardless of who I'm going against. He's a really good pitcher. You kind of know it's going to be a tight game, but I'm glad we pulled ahead."
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St. Louis Cardinals' Pedro Pages heads to first on an RBI single during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Pedro Pages follows through on an RBI single during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals' Nolan Arenado, right, scores past Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal during the eighth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan, left, is tagged out by Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal during the eighth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals' Nolan Arenado (28) and Paul Goldschmidt (46) celebrate a 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates following a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes throws during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes throws during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes pauses after giving up an RBI single to St. Louis Cardinals' Nolan Arenado during the fourth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Andre Pallante celebrates after striking out Pittsburgh Pirates' Jared Triolo to end the top of the seventh inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Pallante (7-8) allowed four hits and one walk. Andrew Kittredge and Ryan Fernandez each pitched a perfect inning, finishing a four-hitter and the ninth shutout for the Cardinals this season.
“He just pounded the zone,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Pallante. “He got ahead of everybody, and the slider was a big pitch for him. He landed that a ton."
Skenes (10-3) gave up one run and four hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and one walk, falling to 0-2 in three starts against St. Louis.
“I had to do some things I haven't done, necessarily,” Skenes said. “At this point of the season, they've seen everything, so it turns into playing the game of baseball. We had a good plan and executed it pretty well.”
Skenes’ 2.07 ERA is the second-lowest through a pitcher’s first 21 starts since ERA became an official statistic in both leagues in 1913, trailing only Steve Rogers’ 1.95 for Montreal in 1973 and 74.
“I think it speaks to how good he is,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He's faced teams in the division multiple times, and they've gotten a look at him. He's made adjustments off it, using the fastball tonight, using the changeup.”
Skenes threw his 94th pitch of 100 mph or more, retiring Paul Goldschmidt on a grounder that ended a nine-pitch at-bat in the fourth inning. No other starting pitcher has thrown more than 40 pitches of at least 100 mph this season.
Nolan Arenado hit an RBI single in the fourth after Alec Burleson reached on a grounder to shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa that was originally ruled an error and then was changed to a hit.
Pedro Pagés greeted Colin Holderman with an RBI single in the seventh. Brendan Donovan had an RBI double in the ninth and Lars Nootbaar followed with a sacrifice fly.
“He's good, man.” Arenado said of Skenes. “I thought we battled pretty good. He made some great pitches. We found a way to scrap that game. Credit to Pallante who went out there and was pitching a great game for us."
Nick Yorke started at second base for Pittsburgh and went 0 for 3 with a stolen base in his major league debut. Yorke's contract was selected from Indianapolis and the Pirates optioned Alika Williams to their Triple-A farm team.
Yorke, 22, was the 17th overall pick by Boston in the 2020 amateur draft and was acquired from the Red Sox on July 30 for right-hander Quinn Priester. Yorke hit .355 with two home runs and 26 RBIs in 40 games for Indianapolis.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: OF Oneil Cruz was held out of the lineup with left ankle discomfort that manager Derek Shelton says is related to his ankle fracture that caused him to miss a majority of the 2023 season. ... RHP Kyle Nicolas left with a member of the Pittsburgh medical staff after walking Goldschmidt, his only batter, leading off the eighth. Shelton said it was a left side injury but did not have any additional information.
Cardinals: C Willson Contreras (fractured right middle finger) will miss the remainder of the regular season.
UP NEXT
Pirates LHP Bailey Falter (8-7, 4.20 ERA) will face Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn (6-4, 3.96 ERA) Tuesday night.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
St. Louis Cardinals' Pedro Pages heads to first on an RBI single during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Pedro Pages follows through on an RBI single during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals' Nolan Arenado, right, scores past Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal during the eighth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan, left, is tagged out by Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal during the eighth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals' Nolan Arenado (28) and Paul Goldschmidt (46) celebrate a 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates following a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes throws during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes throws during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes pauses after giving up an RBI single to St. Louis Cardinals' Nolan Arenado during the fourth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Andre Pallante celebrates after striking out Pittsburgh Pirates' Jared Triolo to end the top of the seventh inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel memorial prize in economics was awarded Monday to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for research that explains why societies with poor rule of law and exploitative institutions do not generate sustainable growth.
The three economists “have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity,” the Nobel committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said at the announcement in Stockholm.
Acemoglu and Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Robinson conducts his research at the University of Chicago.
“Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this,” Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said.
He said their research has provided "a much deeper understanding of the root causes of why countries fail or succeed.”
Reached by the academy in Athens, Greece, where he is due to speak at a conference, the Turkish-born Acemoglu, 57, said he was surprised and shocked by the award.
“You never expect something like this," he said.
Acemoglu said the research honored by the prize underscores the value of democratic institutions.
“I think broadly speaking the work that we have done favors democracy,” he said in a telephone call with the Nobel committee and reporters in Stockholm.
But he added that “democracy is not a panacea. Introducing democracy is very hard. When you introduce elections, that sometimes creates conflict.”
Asked about how economic growth in countries like China fits into the theories, Acemoglu said that "my perspective is generally that these authoritarian regimes, for a variety of reasons, are going to have a harder time ... in achieving ... long-term sustainable innovation outcomes.”
Acemoglu and Robinson wrote the 2012 bestseller “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty,’’ which argued that manmade problems were responsible for keeping countries poor.
In their work, the winners looked, for instance, at the city of Nogales, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border.
Despite sharing the same geography, climate, many of the same ancestors and a common culture, life is very different on either side of the border. In Nogales, Arizona, to the north, residents are relatively well-off and live long lives; most children graduate from high school. To the south, in Mexico’s Nogales, Sonora, “residents here are in general considerably poorer. ... Organized crime makes starting and running companies risky. Corrupt politicians are difficult to remove," the Nobel committee wrote.
The difference, the economists found, is a U.S. system that protects property rights and gives citizens a say in their government.
Acemoglu expressed worry Monday that democratic institutions in the United States and Europe were losing support from the population. “Democracies particularly underperform when the population thinks they underdeliver," he said. “This is a time when democracies are going through a rough patch. … It is, in some sense, quite crucial that they reclaim the high ground of better governance."
The economists also studied the institutional changes that European powers such as Britain and Spain put in place when they colonized much of the world starting in the 1600s. They brought different policies to different places, giving later researchers a “natural experiment" to analyze.
Colonies that were sparsely populated offered less resistance to foreign rule and therefore attracted more settlers. In those places, colonial governments tended to establish more inclusive economic institutions that “incentivized settlers to work hard and invest in their new homeland. In turn, this led to demands for political rights that gave them a share of profits,” according to the Nobel committee.
In more densely populated places that attracted fewer settlers, the colonial regimes limited political rights and set up institutions that focused on “benefiting a local elite at the expense of the wider population ... Paradoxically, this means that the parts of the colonized world that were relatively the most prosperous around 500 years ago are now those that are relatively poor.” India’s industrial production, for example, exceeded the American colonies’ in the 18th century.
The economics prize is formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The central bank established it in 1968 as a memorial to Nobel, the 19th-century Swedish businessman and chemist who invented dynamite and established the five Nobel Prizes.
Though Nobel purists stress that the economics prize is technically not a Nobel Prize, it is always presented together with the others on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.
Nobel honors were announced last week in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace.
Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, speaks to the media during a conference in Athens , Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, stands in an elevator after speaking to the media during a conference in Athens, Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, speaks to the media during a conference in Athens , Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, speaks to the media during a conference in Athens , Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
This image provided by the The University of Chicago shows James A. Robinson, one of three winners of the Nobel memorial prize in economics. (The University of Chicago via AP)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, speaks to the media during a conference in Athens , Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Journalists listen when Jan Teorell of the Nobel assembly announces the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Academy of Sciences permanent secretary Hans Ellegren, center, Jakob Svensson, left, and Jan Teorell, of the Nobel assembly announce the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Academy of Sciences permanent secretary Hans Ellegren, center, Jakob Svensson, left, and Jan Teorell, of the Nobel assembly announce the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
FILE - Daron Acemoglu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology smiles in this image taken on June 22, 2019 in Kiel, Germany, as he and Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson won the Nobel prize in economics for research into reasons why some countries succeed and others fail. (Frank Molter, dpa via AP, File)
The Nobel memorial prize in economics awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson, seen on screen, during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Academy of Sciences permanent secretary Hans Ellegren, center, Jakob Svensson, left, and Jan Teorell, of the Nobel assembly announce the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson, seen on screen, during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
FILE - A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
The Nobel economics prize is being announced in Sweden
The Nobel economics prize is being announced in Sweden
FILE - A bust of Alfred Nobel on display following a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP, File)
