Paul Skenes Stifles Rockies in Pirates Game, Lowers ERA to 1.98
Paul Skenes turned Tuesday night’s pirates game into another short list of hard contact and a long list of zeros. He threw eight shutout innings, allowed two hits and left with his season ERA down to 1.98.
Skenes Keeps Rolling
The Pirates ace also trimmed his career ERA to 1.97. For a 23-year-old in his first full stretch of work, the line keeps tightening while the schedule keeps moving.
Skenes was asked again about getting pulled after the eighth inning, and his answer matched the workload plan around him. He said Don Kelly is looking out for him and that “it’s a long season.” He added, “It’s start nine, I think, out of 32 or 33” and “and, hopefully, eight or nine more after that.”
That is the part that complicates the easy read on his season. The dominance is obvious, but the Pirates are still managing his innings with the bigger picture in mind.
Eight Starts, 55 Strikeouts
The recent run has been even sharper. In his past eight starts, Skenes has posted a 1.09 ERA with 55 strikeouts and five walks, and he has not walked a batter in a month.
Those numbers sit on top of a team that is on an 89-win pace, yet still in fourth place in the NL Central and a game behind Ohtani’s Dodgers for the last wild-card spot. Pittsburgh’s position keeps the focus split between what Skenes is doing now and where the Pirates may need him later.
Ohtani Looms Over NL
Shohei Ohtani is the likely National League MVP if he stays healthy, with a 0.97 ERA on the mound and a bat on pace for nearly 30 home runs and likely the 40s by season’s end. Skenes can keep piling up outings like Tuesday’s, but the award race still runs through a player who is producing on both sides of the ball.
That is where the real value for Pittsburgh may land. The MVP case is crowded, but playoff games would ask something different from Skenes, and an eight-inning shutout against Colorado only sharpened the argument that he could matter most when the games get bigger.
