Paul Skenes quickly shrugged off the shortest start of his dominant major league career and returned to form on Wednesday.
The reigning NL Cy Young winner allowed one run in five innings and struck out five in the Pirates’ 8-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
“I’m pretty insulated from a lot of stuff that’s out there. The stuff that I do see or hear, I don’t really care anyway because it doesn’t have anything to do with the play. I’m just thinking about getting back to execution and executing my pitches,” Skenes said. “Nothing matters except for the game and the pitches.”
Skenes walked Cincinnati’s TJ Friedl to lead off the game, then retired eight straight, including three strikeouts. He walked Friedl twice in three innings before Elly De La Cruz singled for the Reds’ first hit. Two batters later, Nathaniel Lowe doubled in De La Cruz, ending Skenes’ 31-inning scoreless streak against Cincinnati.
Skenes’ scoreless run was the fourth-longest by a Pirates pitcher against an opponent since 1961. Vernon Law holds the mark, blanking the Mets for 40 innings during 1965-66.
The right-hander retired four of the last five batters he faced and departed after throwing 77 pitches, including 51 strikes.
“Definitely progress. Nice to get some volume and be out there for more than two-thirds,” said Skenes, who improved to 5-0 with a 0.53 ERA in six career starts against the Reds. He has 45 strikeouts and only four walks while holding Cincinnati to a .197 batting average.
Further helping Skenes, the Pirates gave strong run support, scoring three in the first on Oneil Cruz’s homer to right.
“With Skenes on the mound, you hate to give them anything early because you know you’re going to have to fight to get anything you can get,” Reds manager Terry Francona said.
Pirates skipper Don Kelly said he wanted to avoid overworking Skenes early, especially after his 37-pitch, two-thirds-inning start in the Mets’ opening day win on Thursday. Skenes allowed five runs, tying a career high, with two walks and a strikeout in the 11-7 loss.
“When you’re going off one outing and 37 pitches, we had targeted 80 for him,” Kelly said. “It was something that we need Paul for the long haul, and he did a great job getting through five. As we go, he’s going to be throwing more than five (innings) and 77 (pitches).”
Skenes has a 2.10 ERA through his first 57 starts, the fourth-best mark by any pitcher since 1920. It is also the lowest mark by a Pittsburgh hurler in any span of 57 starts since Babe Adams had a 2.06 ERA between 1918 and ’20.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.