Paul Skenes threw eight innings of two-hit ball Wednesday as he hits his stride for the Pirates.
Paul Skenes is fully locked in for the Pittsburgh Pirates, slapping his glove in approval as he struck out the side in the eighth as the reigning NL Cy Young winner delivered one of the best starts in his career to carry the Pirates past the Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0 with eight innings of two-hit dominance. In eight innings pitched, Skenes only allowed two hits, zero runs, and struck out seven batters. He threw 65 of 97 pitches for strikes, rarely falling behind in counts, and retired 14 batters before Lourdes Gurriel Jr. finally got a single off. Nolan Arenado got the last hit off Skenes on the evening.
As manager Don Kelly put it after, the ace was “unreal” in his outing and is now 3-0 on the year with a 0.69 ERA over four career starts against the Diamondbacks. According to ESPN Research, Skenes is the first pitcher with three straight scoreless starts in six-plus innings against Arizona.
And he’s chasing the elusive shutout, recently taking a perfect game into the seventh inning against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 24. But after eight innings, Kelly decided against sending Skenes out for the ninth to clinch a potential shutout, noting that his command had dipped slightly in the eight.
To read more about Skenes chasing the shutout and how close he is, here’s the full story from Pirates Roundtable writer John Perrotto.
Skenes has yet to throw a nine-inning complete game in the majors, but he’s heating up this campaign. His last eight-inning complete game ended in a loss, but this time, Brando Lowe’s solo homer was all he needed to clinch the game on Wednesday as he begins to really hit his stride.