Paul Skenes sparkles in final start of season as Pirates top Reds in 11 innings

Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes missed out on earning his 11th win of the season Wednesday night in Cincinnati at the Great American Ball Park, but the Pirates did continue to spoil the Reds’ playoff hopes.

After Skenes threw six shutout innings for his 14th outing of the season without allowing an earned run, the Pirates defeated the Reds, 4-3, in 11 innings to earn their fourth straight win and lower Cincinnati’s chances of earning the final National League wild card spot.

“It gives us a taste of what is ahead for us,” Skenes said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “The atmosphere is just electric. I wasn’t out there for most of the game after I came out, but just watching, it was unbelievable. So, hopefully we have that in Pittsburgh next year.”

Skenes allowed four hits and struck out seven while throwing 85 pitches and lowering his ERA to 1.97, the lowest mark in the major leagues. He became the first qualified pitcher to finish with a sub-2.00 ERA since Justin Verlander (1.75) in 2022 and is the first Pirates pitcher to do so in the live ball era.

In his rookie season, Skenes produced a 1.96 ERA over 133 innings. He is now one of three Pirates pitchers, joining Howie Camnitz (1908, 1909) and Babe Adams (1909, 1919), who have recorded multiple seasons with a sub-2.00 ERA and 130-plus innings pitched.

“I don’t come into the year with any numerical goals or anything like that, any stat goals,” Skenes said. “It’s a product of doing what you’re supposed to do. It probably could’ve been lower, or it could’ve been higher. But it’s pretty cool.”

With his second inning strikeout of Reds first baseman Spencer Steer, Skenes became the Pirates’ single-season strikeout leader among right-handers, surpassing Mitch Keller’s 2023 mark of 210. Skenes finished the year with 216 strikeouts.

Skenes did get himself into trouble in the fifth after Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson reached third following a double off the left-center field wall. But Skenes escaped the only real jam he faced with a groundout and two strikeouts.

Skenes needed four scoreless innings to earn a sub-2.00 ERA but didn’t consider leaving the game at that point to preserve the stat.

“Having a sub-2.00 ERA is great, but I don’t think it’s a winning mentality to come out after four,” Skenes said. “I didn’t think about it. I didn’t know what my ERA was during the game. I wasn’t checking or anything like that. It was just about winning.”

After two seasons, Skenes has already put together an impressive career. He won the NL Rookie of the Year award a season ago and is now in a position to capture the NL Cy Young award.

He leads the major leagues in ERA, becoming the first Pirates pitcher to do so since John Candelaria in 1977. He leads the NL in WHIP (0.95) and is tied for first in strikeouts, while ranking third in innings pitched (187⅔) and fourth in opponents’ batting average (.183).

However, he may be battling history when it comes to winning the Cy Young for the first time. No starter has ever won the award with a winning percentage of .500 or below. Dodgers reliever Eric Gagne won it in 2003 with a 2-3 record, but tallied 55 saves and a 1.20 ERA over 82⅓ innings. Cubs reliever Bruce Sutter did the same in 1979, going 6-6 while earning 37 saves and producing a 2.22 ERA.

“It’s unbelievable,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said of Skenes’ season. “When you talk about the competitiveness that he’s got, not backing down from anything, going out there, and regardless of if he’s had a few tough outings this year, he bounces back the next one and leads the staff in that way.”

Despite everything he’s accomplished, Skenes said he found himself savoring his final start of the season. He said he viewed making 32 starts, along with the number of innings he pitched, as his biggest accomplishments. But he was still craving more.

“I wanted to savor it, knowing that this was my last outing of the year. I won’t be doing it again for six months or so. It’s kind of a tough realization. The last few days have been pretty tough for me, knowing that,” Skenes said. “It’s nice to have it over with, but I wish I could keep pitching, just for the joy of pitching and the sub-2.00 ERA is a nice byproduct of that.”

First baseman Spencer Horwitz and right fielder Bryan Reynolds provided plenty of offense for the Priates on Wednesday. Horwitz went 3 for 5 with three RBIs and two doubles, driving in Reynolds three times.

Center fielder Jack Suwinski delivered the eventual game-winning run in the 11th inning with a double over center fielder TJ Friedl’s head. He replaced Oneil Cruz, who exited the game with left ankle discomfort in the ninth inning. Kelly said he didn’t have an official report on Cruz, who tried to play through the injury after running into the wall during Noelvi Marte’s inside-the-park home run in the eighth inning.

“He’s tough and he’s played hurt throughout times this year and in the past,” Kelly said of Cruz. “Great effort trying to catch the ball off the wall, he kind of jammed it up. I don’t have a full report on where he’s at, but he was trying to stay in. It just tightened up between innings.”

Cincinnati catcher Tyler Stephenson tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth with a solo home run off Dennis Santana, who was trying to finish off a four-out save.

The two teams exchanged runs in the 10th inning before Yohan Ramirez was able to close things out in the 11th, following Suwinski’s go-ahead RBI. Ramirez, who worked 1⅓ innings, escaped a bases-loaded jam by getting Marte to ground out to third baseman Jared Triolo to seal it.

“That was a great atmosphere out there,” Kelly said. “That’s what you play for, and that’s what we’re working toward to get back at PNC. I was really proud of the guys and the way they responded here in Cincinnati.”