Tim Benz: Paul Skenes gives Pittsburgh a brief reminder of what September baseball can be

For a guy who recently warned the Pittsburgh Pirates against the prospect of 2025 becoming a “wasted year,” Paul Skenes certainly created an enduring memory during his final outing of the campaign.

Skenes pitched six scoreless innings before heading to the bench with a 2-0 lead against the Cincinnati Reds. To the surprise of no one, the Pirates eventually blew that lead, forcing Skenes to end his potential Cy Young season with yet another no-decision.

But that wasn’t the story. Pfft! We’ve seen that a dozen times this year.

No, seriously. A dozen times.

Welp, make it *12* games 12 earned runs now https://t.co/WdnnCJcCIj

— Tim Benz (@TimBenzPGH) September 25, 2025

The story was how Skenes got there on Wednesday night.

The headline was that Skenes — who took the hill at 10-10 with a National League-best ERA of 2.03, a 0.96 WHIP and 209 strikeouts — was facing Reds ace Hunter Greene (7-4, 2.74 ERA, .925 WHIP) as Cincy was hoping to close a one-game gap on the New York Mets in the National League wild card chase.

The subplot was that Skenes was looking to get his ERA below 2.00, and he was hoping to get his record above .500.

Skenes probably didn’t need to hit those numbers to win the Cy Young. But it couldn’t hurt, and for the sake of cosmetics, in both cases, it would make his season stat line look even more spectacular than it already is.

When Skenes left the fourth inning without allowing a run, that got his ERA down to 1.99. Many people, including myself, were wondering if Skenes would put that at risk and come out for the fifth — an inning he needed to finish to qualify for the win.

Manager Don Kelly had Skenes go back to the mound, and, of course, Tyler Stephenson nearly homered off the top of the wall to ruin Skenes’ quest on the first pitch of the inning.

However, Skenes managed to get a groundout and two strikeouts to leave the field with a sub-2.00 ERA secured and a chance at getting the win.

Much to the delight of his girlfriend and fellow LSU athlete alum, Livvy Dunne.

We are ALL @livvydunne watching Paul Skenes pitch ???? pic.twitter.com/aAaTpcwZzU

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) September 24, 2025

Yet, with both statistical measures in hand, Skenes came back out for the sixth. That’s something that wasn’t even a lock under normal circumstances, given the way the organization has guarded against arm injury for Skenes this year.

With both the ERA mark in peril and the chance of slipping below .500 with one bad inning, Skenes remained in the game anyway because he had at least one more inning to give this season.

“We needed me to have a good start today. With the other guy on the mound, we knew it was going to be a battle,” Skenes said on SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame. “It’s just winning. Having a sub-2.00 is great. But it’s not a winning mentality to come out after four.”

Or in this case, five.

As is his nature, Skenes sent the Reds down 1-2-3 in the sixth.

Paul Skenes, 7th K.

Walks off the Mound. Takes it all in.
1.97 ERA.

Cy Young. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/y5O7nOYP9R

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 25, 2025

“I don’t think he would have been happy with that,” Kelly said of potentially pulling Skenes earlier. “The competitor he is, he emptied the tank in the sixth inning.”

Naturally, the Pirates blew the lead before eventually winning 4-3 in 11 innings. So, Skenes ended the night with a 10-10 record. But he ends the season as just the third pitcher over the last 50 years to post a sub-2.00 ERA (1.97) over at least 100 innings in back-to-back seasons. The other two are Greg Maddux and Clayton Kershaw. Maddux is in Cooperstown. Kershaw will be there soon.

“I’m worse now than I was last year,” Skenes deadpanned. “I was 1.96 last year, right? I’m 1.97 this year? Just gotta be better.”

Skenes was clearly joking, seeing as how he posted those numbers over the grind of 32 starts and 187 innings pitched. In his Rookie of the Year season of 2024, his ERA was manufactured over only 133 innings because of his mid-May promotion from the minor leagues.

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Those starts and that inning count is what Skenes pointed to as his best accomplishment of the year. In reality, though, his greatest accomplishment was probably creating drama and tension in September for Pittsburgh baseball fans.

Granted, it was all because we were watching him chase individual stats instead of the team chasing a playoff berth like the Reds were doing.

But it was something. It felt like something mattered surrounding the Pirates as October approached.

That doesn’t happen too often around here.

“The atmosphere was just electric,” Skenes said of Great American Ball Park. “It was unbelievable. Hopefully, we have that in Pittsburgh next year.”

Yeah. Hopefully.

More likely, whatever interest we have baseball-wise in September will be strictly about Skenes chasing whatever stat or award or goal is out there at the time. And, most likely, he’ll attain it.

Whether he’s getting run support or not.