Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes extends historic career start

The Pittsburgh Pirates may have fallen short of victory on Saturday, but it certainly wasn’t Paul Skenes’ fault.

Skenes went 6.0 innings, allowing six hits, two walks and one earned run with nine strikeouts against the Atlanta Braves. That one run came on a leadoff home run by Jarred Kelenic, and then Skenes pitched a scoreless game from that point on.

The 22-year-old right-hander did the same thing the last time he took the mound, allowing an early home run against the Tampa Bay Rays on June 23 before locking in the score and not conceding again point. According to OptaSTATS, Skenes is the first pitcher in MLB history to do this in two consecutive starts.

Yet the Pirates lost both games and Skenes ended up with a no decision each time. Atlanta won the game in the 10th inning on Saturday, winning 2-1.

Skenes is now in his ninth MLB appearance. He has 70 strikeouts since joining the major leagues, which MLB.com’s Sarah Langs says is the ninth-most all-time by a pitcher in nine career appearances.

According to Langs, only two players have had more than 70 strikeouts and 10 or fewer walks in their first nine career starts since at least 1901. Masahiro Tanaka is the only other pitcher to achieve this feat, with the fullback of the New York Yankees. in 2014, but even he had seven years in Nippon Professional Baseball to prepare for MLB competition.

Skenes, on the other hand, was in the College World Series with LSU this time last year.

Skenes is 4-0 with a 2.06 ERA, 1.032 WHIP and 2.1 WAR so far this season. Although he only joined the Pirates’ major league roster in mid-May, Skenes is still considered one of the top contenders for the National League Rookie of the Year award.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft was baseball’s top pitching prospect heading into 2024, and he’s certainly shown why over the past few weeks.

Continue to follow our coverage of Fastball on FanNation on social media by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter @FastballFN.

You can also follow Sam Connon on Twitter @SamConnon.