BALTIMORE — After surpassing 200 strikeouts for the first time in his career, Pirates ace Paul Skenes admitted it was good to get a breather.
The NL Cy Young front-runner reached 203, fanning eight Orioles batters in Pittsburgh’s 2-1, 10-inning loss to Baltimore on Wednesday night.
It might’ve been more had manager Don Kelly not removed the overpowering right-hander after a season-low 64 pitches with an eye toward managing his workload at the back end of his first full season in the majors.
“The main goal that I’ve had coming into the past two years is making every start,” said the 23-year-old Skenes, who worked five scoreless, two-hit frames in his 30th outing. “There are opportunities to give and take throughout the season, and tonight was kind of one of those. I probably needed it, to be honest.”
Skenes has a major-league-best 1.92 ERA over 178 innings after combining for 160⅓ last season between the Pirates and Triple-A Indianapolis.
“I pitched in September last year, but it was different,” Skenes said. “Throwing 160 innings with 27 of them in the minors, it’s not the same as throwing 160 innings all in the big leagues.”
He could take up three more turns in Pittsburgh’s rotation before the season concludes, but the outings in 2026 and beyond could be more important; Wednesday’s loss was the 82nd for the Pirates, guaranteeing a seventh consecutive below-.500 season and 29th out of the last 33.
Kelly said Skenes’ late-season workload would be evaluated on a start-by-start basis.
“Like we’ve talked about with all the guys,” Kelly said. “Just trying to make sure that we’re managing their workload, make sure that they’re going all the way through the end of the season healthy and ready to finish a full season and be ready for next year.”
Wednesday was Skenes’ 11th start in which he completed five innings without allowing a run. Eight of those have come since the beginning of July.
He’s only the second Pirates starter in the modern era (since 1901) to reach 200 strikeouts in 180 innings or fewer. Oliver Perez became the first in 2004.