PHOENIX -- Reigning National League Cy Young winner Paul Skenes toyed with perfection, again, while dominating the Diamondbacks in a 1-0 victory Wednesday night.
Skenes was in such command that he made Brandon Lowe’s 435-foot first inning homer on the fourth pitch of the game feel like a 10-spot.
If there is pressure pitching with such a small margin for error, Skenes’ teammates have not seen it.
“He loves it for sure,” catcher Henry Davis said. “I mean, the guy’s [6-foot-6], absolute giant. Throws 100 [mph]. I think he’s made for every moment on the mound. But, yeah, he loves it.”
Skenes retired the first 14 batters he faced before Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a dribbler down the third-base line with two outs in the fifth that Skenes fielded, but after planting and turning, threw wide to first as Gurriel was credited with an infield single.
Nolan Arenado followed with a sharp single to left, but Skenes retired Gabriel Moreno on a fly to right field to end the inning and preserve the edge.
“I thought I was going to make [the play],” Skenes said. “I just got too deep in my legs and didn’t quite get out. I just didn’t throw it in the right place. I’m glad he didn’t go to second.”
Those were the only Arizona runners to reach against him in eight innings and 97 pitches. He threw 15 of 26 first-pitch strikes and displayed command early, using only 43 pitches through four perfect innings.
“He wants to be out there and be in that spot,” manager Don Kelly said.
Skenes (5-2) lowered his season ERA to 2.36 while striking out seven without a walk. If not for a 17-pitch eighth inning that he finished with a signature flourish – striking out the side – he might have been in line for his first career complete game.
Instead, Gregory Soto pitched around a one-out walk in the ninth for his second save.
“It just looked like [Skenes’] command wasn’t as good,” Kelly said. “Velo ticked down a hair. A good spot to bring Soto in.”
Skenes and Kelly talked after the eighth.
“When I came out I didn’t know what the pitch count was,” Skenes said. “A lot of confidence in Soto to finish it, so I wasn’t worrying about it too much.”
Skenes’ highest pitch count this season is 102, in his last outing against St. Louis, when he had a season-high nine strikeouts but gave up five runs (three earned) and two first-inning homers in a 10-5 loss.
Skenes relied mostly on his 97-98 mph fastball, getting 13 outs on that pitch before recording his three eighth-inning strikeouts on a pair of changeups and a splinker. He got eight outs with either the changeup or the splinker.
“It always goes back to execution,” Skenes said. “It’s not easy, but it’s simple. If you execute your pitches, it’s going to go the way you want. These games are fun to pitch in, for sure.
“It is never easy pitching in the big leagues, but when you get ahead [in the count], it’s a lot easier to pitch. When you don’t, that’s when they can do damage. So just have to keep getting ahead.”
The outing was nothing new -- the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft has had his way with Arizona in his short career.
Skenes has not given up a run in his last three starts against Arizona. He beat the Diamondbacks twice in 2025, 10-1 in Phoenix on May 28 and 6-0 at home on July 27. He was barely touchable -- the D-backs had seven hits in 12 2/3 innings, and Skenes had 16 strikeouts and just one walk.
The D-backs had nothing close to a hit until Gurriel’s chopper. Gurriel’s 105.7 mph line drive to center to end the second was their lone hard-hit ball until Arenado’s single in the fifth.
“It’s fun when you can kind of sit back and watch him go on autopilot,” Lowe said. “I’m not going to go out there and tell him he’s got to throw no-hitters every single time he goes out there, but it’s a lot of fun to be behind him when he is rolling like he was tonight.”