PHOENIX — Hours before the Pirates faced the Diamondbacks for the second game of their series at Chase Field, Don Kelly sat in the visitors' dugout and discussed Paul Skenes' abilities as a big-game pitcher.
The Pirates manager referenced the World Baseball Classic and College World Series, explaining how Skenes seemed to relish those moments. This wasn't on that level, though Skenes did put a gigantic foot down Wednesday in Arizona.
Skenes flashed that big-game prowess by delivering eight shutout innings to power the Pirates to a 1-0 victory, dominating in so many ways and also displaying remarkable efficiency.
"I don't know what else there is to say," Kelly said. "He was unbelievable. Getting ahead in counts, the elite stuff, being able to put guys away, low pitch count, very efficient. He was unreal."
Coming off Tuesday's 9-0 loss, the gem Skenes twirled was also much-needed, getting the Pirates (20-17) back on track and allowing them to enter Thursday's finale seeking a series win with a rested bullpen.
The right-hander threw 97 pitches, 65 for strikes. He allowed just two hits, both singles, and walked none. Skenes didn't throw more than 17 pitches in an inning and three times needed nine or fewer.
In the eighth, Skenes' final inning, he struck out the side. Overall, Skenes finished with seven punchouts: four via four-seamers, two on changeups and one with his splitter. Splinker, sorry.
"I thought there were times where every pitch was working, but they weren’t all at the same time, unfortunately," said Skenes, who also had 13 whiffs. "I was happy with it. We were executing our pitches or close to executing our pitches. Henry [Davis] called a great game. We let the defense work, and they did a great job. Felt good about it."
How it happened
The difference for Skenes came with his four-seam fastball and the pinpoint command he had of it, arguably the best he had all season. That pitch alone led to 12 called strikes or whiffs. He threw it for strikes 76% of the time. Velocity-wise, it averaged 97.1 mph on the night — but ticked up to 97.6 mph in Skenes’ final inning.
“I was really happy with the execution of it,” Skenes.
The outing came an out shy of Skenes’ longest career start, which occurred July 23, 2024 against St. Louis. Despite Skenes ending with three strikeouts, Kelly called on Gregory Soto to worked the ninth.
Skenes said he wasn’t aware of his pitch count after the eighth. Kelly said they “talked about it briefly,” then went to Soto, who worked around a one-out walk.
"I had a lot of confidence in Soto to finish it," Skenes said. "I wasn’t worrying about it too much. Hopefully this year."
Best western
That Skenes did this to the Diamondbacks probably shouldn't come as a surprise. He entered Wednesday's game 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA in three career starts against them.
More than that, Skenes had gone 6-0 with a 1.04 ERA in seven starts against the NL West since the start of last season, the lowest ERA for any MLB pitcher who has worked at least 40 innings.
After Wednesday, Skenes has sliced his ERA all the way down to 2.36.
“It always just goes back to execution,” Skenes said. “It’s not easy, but it’s simple. If you execute your pitches, it’s gonna go the way you want it to.”
‘That’s an approach’
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo wanted his hitters to attack Skenes early, believing that would be their best chance to get a pitch to hit.
Obviously the strategy didn’t work terribly well. But it did help the Pirates.
Skenes executed his pitches, especially his fastball, and Arizona never really adjusted.
Skenes’ reaction when he was asked about the Diamondbacks’ approach?
“Means I can go deep in games,” he said with a smile. “When you can get outs early in counts, that makes it easier to pitch. That’s when you get the seven- or eight-inning outings. Same thing with Braxton [Ashcraft] a few days ago. They’re taking their shots, not too many of ‘em landed. That’s an approach.”
The Pirates now have two 1-0 victories in four-day span after Ashcraft did the same thing Sunday.
The offense
It didn’t take long for the Pirates to get all the offense they needed thanks to Brandon Lowe’s solo homer two batters into the game. It was a no-doubter, too. Lowe got an outside changeup and smashed it 435 feet to center for his team-high-tying ninth of the season.
“Get up there, roll off a good swing, try to pass the baton to the next guy,” Lowe said. “Took a rip. Love it. Any time we can get Paul a lead, we’re sitting pretty good.”
Pittsburgh had a chance to add to the lead an inning later, but a mistake on the bases proved costly.
Spencer Horwitz led off with his first-ever triple, a 411-foot shot to center field. But after Davis drew a one-out walk, Horwitz was tagged out between home and third. Not only that, Horwitz failed to sustain the rundown while Davis was running to third, resulting in a second out.
Skenes carried a perfect game into the fifth inning — and recorded the first two outs of the frame. But left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s swinging bunt to the third-base side was too tough for Skenes to handle and was (correctly) scored a hit.
“I got a good grip, just threw it away,” Skenes said. “Didn’t throw it to the right place. Gotta throw it to the right place next time.”
Given how ridiculously well he did everything else, Skenes’ teammates were more than happy to let it slide.
“He nearly went seven perfect innings in Milwaukee,” Lowe said. “At this point I was thinking, ‘Is this gonna be the new normal?’ We’re not gonna make a big deal of it. He carries no-hitters deep into ballgames.’
“That’s the kind of pitcher you want to play behind quite often. I’m not gonna tell him he has to throw no-hitters every single time. But it’s a lot of fun to be behind when he’s rolling like he was [Wednesday].”
Reynolds’ milestone
With singles in the first and third innings, Reynolds reached 1,000 career hits, becoming just the fourth Pirate since 2000 to amass that many. Reynolds is also now one of just five Pirates with at least 1,000 hits, 200 doubles and 140 home runs, joining Roberto Clemente, Andrew McCutchen, Dave Parker and Willie Stargell.
Since making his MLB debut on April 20, 2019, Reynolds ranks 12th among all Major League hitters in hits.
Around the horn
Horwitz waited 253 games to notch his first MLB triple … and nearly had his second one in consecutive plate appearances. However, Diamondbacks center fielder Alek Thomas ran a long way and dove on the warning track to make a sensational play and rob Horwitz in the fourth inning. … Lowe has already surpassed the number of home runs hit by Pirates second basemen in 2025 (8). … With his seventh-inning single, Konnor Griffin extended his hitting streak to eight games. He also stole his eighth base in eight attempts.
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH.