Pittsburgh Pirates Ace Paul Skenes Flummoxes Brewers In a Great Start
Baseball is a funny game. One day, you are getting booed off the mound before you even break a sweat. The next, you are rewriting the record books and making big-league hitters look like a local beer-league softball team. Nobody understands this wild emotional rollercoaster right now better than Paul Skenes.
If you rewind to Opening Day against the New York Mets, Skenes looked shockingly human. Actually, he looked worse than human. He surrendered five runs on four hits and a pair of walks, getting yanked after recording just two outs. He walked back to the dugout sporting a 67.50 ERA.
But if you thought the young ace was going to crumble, you clearly haven’t been paying attention to Skenes over his first three big-league seasons.
The Opening Day Disaster Is Officially History For Skenes
Since that ugly afternoon in Queens, Skenes has been on an absolute tear. Over his last five starts, he has posted a microscopic 0.95 ERA, allowing a grand total of three runs on 10 hits over 28.1 innings. He has punched out 29 batters in that span and currently rides a 16-inning scoreless streak.
The peak of this redemption tour came on April 24 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Skenes took the mound at American Family Field and put on an absolute masterclass. He retired the first 20 batters he faced, taking a perfect game deep into the seventh inning. He was dealing his famous “splinker,” attacking the strike zone with ruthless efficiency and rarely falling behind in the count.
For a moment, it felt like history was inevitable. Then, with two outs in the seventh, Jake Bauers poked a single to center field, snapping the spell.
Skenes Carves Up the Brewers With Perfect Game Stuff
Even without the perfect game, the performance was legendary. Skenes finished the night allowing just that lone hit, zero runs, and zero walks while striking out seven on 97 pitches. The Brewers crowd, recognizing the sheer greatness they had just witnessed, gave him a massive standing ovation.
Brewers Manager Pat Murphy didn’t mince words after his team was carved up in the 6-0 loss. “That’s the best I’ve seen from anyone, I think,” Murphy said. When your opponent’s manager is basically tipping his cap and calling you the best he’s ever seen, you know you are doing something right.
Pirates Manager Don Kelly echoed that sentiment, noting that Skenes had elite, perfect-game stuff. “I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that he came up two years ago, and he’s in his third season in the big leagues,” Kelly said. “He’s continuing to get better, which is amazing considering what he’s already done.”
A Historic Pace For the Pirates Ace
What Skenes is doing goes far beyond a good five-game stretch. Through his first 61 Major League starts, Skenes owns a 2.01 ERA with 416 strikeouts in 349.2 innings. That 2.01 ERA is officially the lowest by any pitcher through their first 60 starts during the entire Live Ball Era (since 1920). Let that sink in. He is doing things we literally haven’t seen in a century.
And the emotional weight of his presence on the team is palpable. Konnor Griffin, who backed up Skenes by launching his first Major League home run in the win, summed up the clubhouse vibe perfectly. “When we step on the field, and he’s throwing, it just gives us so much confidence… We want to win for him.”
When asked about the near-perfecto, Skenes played it as cool as he looks on the mound. He noted that he wasn’t thinking about the perfect game much, choosing instead to focus on executing pitches and putting up zeros. He will look to keep adding those zeros to the scoreboard on Wednesday when Skenes takes the mound against the Cardinals in Pittsburgh.
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