It looked to be more of the same for Paul Skenes when he allowed a 110.2 mph leadoff double on an 0-2 pitch to the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. on Tuesday night in San Diego.
Instead, it was only an aberration in a much-needed bounce-back outing for the 2025 National League Cy Young Award winner, a game the Pirates would win, 1-0, on Oneil Cruz's ninth-inning home run off Padres closer Mason Miller.
Skenes, going through a tough stretch during his third Major League season, turned in an excellent outing against the Padres’ red-hot lineup at Petco Park. He pitched six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out four without issuing a walk.
It was Skenes’ first time completing six innings since July 19 in Cleveland and his first scoreless start since an eight-inning outing on May 12 against the Rockies at PNC Park. He accomplished the feat against a Padres team that had won 21 of its last 29 games dating back to July 24.
Skenes showed off increased velocity on Tuesday, an excellent sign during a season in which his four-seam fastball has averaged 96.8 mph, down from 98.2 mph in 2025. He averaged 97.2 mph on his four-seamer against San Diego and topped out at 98 mph on the pitch. Skenes’ fastest two pitches of the night, at 98.6 mph and 98.4 mph, were both sinkers that completed strikeouts. He averaged 96.8 mph on his sinker, 0.2 mph above his season average.
The right-hander did not allow a runner past second base, stranding Tatis there after his double to start the game and leaving Dustin Harris on second in the sixth to end his night. Harris -- who led off the inning with a 104.3 mph leadoff single -- and Tatis had the only two hard-hit base hits against Skenes, who allowed an average exit velocity of 83.8 mph. The Padres whiffed on 13 of their 46 swings against Skenes (28.3% whiff rate).
Skenes found a groove after Tatis’ leadoff hit, retiring six straight hitters before Xander Bogaerts’ leadoff single in the third inning, then setting down the following nine Padres until Harris lined a single into the right-field corner to start the sixth. But Tatis lined out, Jake Cronenworth grounded out and Manny Machado popped out to end the threat.
Taming competitive lineups and teams is nothing new for Skenes, who entered the night 13-6 with a 2.64 ERA in his career against teams with records above .500. It goes without saying that those types of things don’t faze him -- not many things do, in general.
The difference in performance this season has been jarring, though. And it has hit a new low in the second half. Skenes has posted a 5.28 ERA over his last six starts as his season mark rose to 3.95. He surrendered four walks in three of those outings and only had one quality start in that stretch.
Over his previous two starts, Skenes had been limited to under 85 pitches, which is largely because Pirates manager Don Kelly said they weren’t going to push Skenes over that threshold against the Tigers last time out after giving him seven days' rest in between the start before that, when he threw just 65 pitches against the Marlins. He threw 87 pitches on Tuesday, 55 for strikes.