Paul Skenes continues to be his own stopper after rare rough outings

As Paul Skenes began his outing against the American League East-leading Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night, he wasn’t wild about his four-seam fastball.

“The first four-seamer I threw was terrible metrically,” Skenes said following the game. “After that, I threw one with a shape that I haven’t thrown at all this year. So it was moving differently than it has been to this point. We just kind of rolled with it.”

Indeed, he did.

In fact, Skenes “rolled” that pitch at Blue Jays hitters 51 times over his 96-pitch outing en route to eight strikeouts over six innings. Despite walking away with a no-decision, that was good enough to lay the foundation for a 5-2 Pirates win to open their six-game homestand.

Skenes gave up two earned runs in six innings, walking one and allowing five hits. He’s 7-9 with a 2.16 ERA, 174 strikeouts and a 0.96 WHIP.

“We did a good job with our game plan and then adjusted to what they were doing pretty quickly. So, yeah, good day,” Skenes said.

The second-year Cy Young candidate certainly has been more dominant at other points this season. But Monday night’s outing was a solid bounce-back from his previous performance in Milwaukee.

In that game, Skenes was chased after four innings when he yielded four earned runs, six hits, two homers and two walks.

“I was pretty confident in everything today. The other day was kind of just one of those days,” Skenes said, referring to his outing in Milwaukee. “The nice thing is, in terms of body control and execution and stuff like that, usually it doesn’t happen twice in a row. Sometimes they’re going to get you. But in terms of actually executing pitches, I feel like that doesn’t happen twice in a row.”

The question becomes, how is that possible? How does a 23-year-old exert such command over the opposition — and himself — that he can serve as his own “stopper” anytime he is bouncing back from a bad start?

“Everything is just the work you do in between starts. That’s what nobody sees,” Skenes said. “There are a lot of factors that are on our plate, and so just controlling what we can control and doing the work in between starts.”

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Whatever work Skenes does behind the scenes seems to be paying off. He has yet to give up more than two earned runs in consecutive starts all season.

“The consistency with which he takes the time between starts is what makes him so good. It’s pretty much always the same,” catcher Henry Davis said.

From his perspective, manager Don Kelly says it’s Skenes’ level-headed personality as much as it is his even-keeled pitching.

“He is so consistent in how he works, how he prepares,” Kelly said. “The detail that he goes through, it’s amazing how much detail and prep goes on in between his starts and his desire to be great.”

Skenes should be able to squeeze in another start during this homestand. As of now, he is in line to pitch against Colorado on Sunday. Should that happen, he’ll be going against a Rockies team that touched him up for four runs in five innings on Aug. 2.

Playing at PNC Park instead of Coors Field, it’s fair to assume that the rematch may yield a different result.

As it would be any time Skenes might be feeling that he has to right a previous wrong.