Paul Skenes reaches 200 strikeouts, as Pirates scratch out win in home finale

The Pirates saw plenty of these games slip away earlier this season. To close their home slate, they snuck away with one over the Cardinals.

Before leaving for a final series in Detroit, the Pirates guaranteed themselves at least a .500 season by scratching out a run in the eighth inning before Mason Montgomery shut the door in a 2-1 victory before 15,822 Thursday at PNC Park.

The Pirates are now 81-78 on the year, as Montgomery notched his 17th save. They finished this homestand 6-3 and improved to 14-7 during a September that has shown what this team is capable of at full strength.

Paul Skenes did not factor into the decision, but he did give the Pirates a quality start and reached 200 strikeouts for a second consecutive season, something a pitcher hasn’t done since the 1960s.

The win helped the Pirates finish their home slate 44-37, marking the ninth winning record at home since PNC Park opened in 2001. Furthermore, it gave Pittsburgh its third straight series victory over St. Louis.

The Pirates have won three consecutive series against the Cardinals just four times since the NL Central was formed in 1994.

Ronny Simon started the decisive rally by drawing a one-out walk. He moved to second when Cardinals reliever Ryne Stanek bounced a splitter, and catcher Ivan Herrera threw wildly to second base, the ball squirting into the outfield.

Spencer Horwitz drove in the run with a sacrifice fly.

The lone blemish against Skenes came in the first inning, when first baseman Alec Burleson tagged him for a solo home run to right-center. It came on a four-seam fastball up, and it was the fifth consecutive solo shot Skenes has permitted.

St. Louis’ lead was short-lived, however, as Oneil Cruz opened the bottom half of the first with a double, stole third and scored on Brandon Lowe’s line-drive single to live, going the other way with an 0-2 pitch.

Skenes’ start was heavy on strikeouts early on, the right-hander fanning six through the first three innings. With just one strikeout over next three, it looked like Skenes might finish the season stuck at 199.

However, Skenes started the seventh inning and got designated hitter Leo Bernall, freezing him on a full-count sinker to become just the second Pirates pitcher with back-to-back seasons of at least 200 strikeouts. Bob Veale had three straight from 1964-66.

As Skenes exited following his 96th pitch of the afternoon, Pirates fans showered him with an ovation.

It wasn’t the season Skenes had wanted. At the same time, he fought through a lot, including fatigue, and still found a way to produce results: a 3.82 ERA, the 12th-most fWAR (4.1) of any pitcher and a FIP of 3.32 prior to Thursday that ranked 13th.

Skenes enjoyed a pretty even distribution of pitches against the Cardinals and had success with all six. His eight strikeouts required five different offerings, while he amassed 15 whiffs, no more than four with any single pitch.

Consistent with when Skenes has found success over the second half, he pitched ahead a lot, throwing 57 of his 90 pitches for strikes and getting to 0-1 against 17 of 22. Thursday represented the 13th quality start of the season for Skenes … but also just the fourth for him (in 12 tries) since the All-Star break.

In 6 1/3 innings, Skenes allowed an earned run on three hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. It was what we’ve come to expect from Skenes and hopefully some sort of building block going into the offseason.

Cruz, shifted up to the leadoff spot for this one, teamed with Konnor Griffin to provide production out of the top two places in the lineup. Those two accounted for four of the Pirates’ seven hits.

This story will be updated.

Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.