Skenes adds to Rookie of the Year case in shutout

He threw five scoreless innings as the Pirates salvaged the series finale in Cincinnati.

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton stumped for phenom Paul Skenes to win NL Rookie of the Year honors before Sunday’s game at Cincinnati, noting the historic nature of the 2023 MLB Draft No. 1 overall pick’s season.

Skenes then stated his case by delivering another dominant outing.

The 6-foot-6 right-hander recorded nine strikeouts without a walk in five scoreless innings to lead the Pirates to a 2-0 win and avoid a sweep in the three-game series at Great American Ball Park.

“I think he should be the rookie of the year, and I understand people are going to promote the two Jacksons in Chourio and Merrill — and they’ve both had really good seasons,” Shelton said pregame on 93.7 FM. “Obviously, I’m biased. Some of the stuff he’s done is historic, and he’s done it in a shorter period of time. I definitely think he deserves the award.”

Skenes shut out the Reds (76-81) after they scored a combined 14 of their 15 runs in the first two games of the series against Pirates starters Mitch Keller (eight on Friday) and Jared Jones (six on Saturday). Skenes was efficient in throwing 50 of his 73 pitches for strikes (68.5%).

“That’s something I’ve needed to be better with the entire year, so I’m glad it happened that way,” Skenes said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “It comes down to execution. I had good stuff today. I recognized that pretty early. But it doesn’t matter if you have good stuff if you can’t execute, and that’s kind of been a little bit of a battle the entire year.”

Skenes (11-3) lowered his ERA from 2.07 to 1.99 in the process to become only the second pitcher since 1913 to post a sub-2.00 ERA through his first 22 starts, joining Steve Rogers (1.95, 1973-74). Skenes als With a franchise rookie-record 167 strikeouts this season, Skenes also became the first pitcher in baseball’s modern era to post a sub-2.00 ERA and 150-plus strikeouts through his first 22 starts.

That Skenes has allowed six hits or fewer in all 22 starts matches Toronto’s Alek Manoah for the fourth-longest such streak (Shohei Ohtani has the most, doing it for 31 starts over 158 1/3 innings).

“Did we expect this?” Shelton said. “I don’t think anybody expects this because we’re seeing things that have never been done.”

In his third start against the Reds this season, Skenes averaged 99.1 mph on his four-seam fastball, touched triple digits twice and got swings on all nine strikeouts. It marked the sixth time Skenes recorded nine or more strikeouts — he had 11 twice — but the first time he did so without issuing a walk.

“Normally, with a young pitcher, you’ve faced them multiple times, you don’t make adjustments. Teams are able to make adjustments,” Shelton said. “He’s made adjustments off their adjustments, which you don’t see very often with veteran pitchers much less a kid that’s 22 years old.”

Reds All-Star righty Hunter Greene, who was out for five-plus weeks with a forearm injury, was activated from the injured list and made his first start since Aug. 13. Greene had four strikeouts and one walk while allowing one run on two hits on 45 pitches in three innings.

The Pirates gave Skenes a lead to work with when Oneil Cruz crushed Greene’s 2-1 elevated fastball on the outside corner 442 feet to center for his 21st home run and a 1-0 Pirates lead.

Skenes, meantime, mixed his splinker with his four-seam fastball effectively, getting 31 swings, eight whiffs and five called strikes between the two pitches. He threw the changeup only eight times but got seven whiffs, including six for strikeouts.

“When you’re throwing the changeup at the speed and with the action, then you’re throwing the sinker off it,” Shelton said, “if you’re a hitter, especially a right-handed hitter, man, you’re tunneling in dangerous territories. … The thing that stands out is he just continues to get better, which is really special to watch.”

Nick Yorke started the fourth by smoking Fernando Cruz’s firstpitch fastball 412 feet to left-center at an exit velocity of 108.9 mph for his first major-league homer and a 2-0 Pirates lead.

“I knew it was gone off the bat,” Yorke said. “I just ambushed a firstpitch heater.”

No Reds runners reached second base against Skenes, a streak that continued when Colin Holderman relieved him in the sixth. Jonathan India got a leadoff single but was caught stealing when catcher Joey Bart threw a perfect strike to Yorke at second base to end the frame. The Reds returned the favor in the seventh, when Bryan De La Cruz hit a leadoff single but was thrown out at second by Tyler Stephenson.

Where Skenes made a strong start, the Pirates got a fantastic finish from their bullpen, as Holderman, Carmen Mlodzinski, Dennis Santana and Aroldis Chapman combined for four scoreless innings to finish off the shutout. Chapman got two strikeouts in the ninth, including Elly De La Cruz on a 102-mph fastball, to earn his 11th save on the season.

“They’ve probably seen him more than anybody, at least to my knowledge, so they probably have a better idea of what’s coming,” Bart said. “So it’s just read and react throughout the game, talking between innings, going through things and floating ideas around. With his arsenal, if he executes, outings like this will continue to happen. Kudos to him. He’s super prepared and confident in what he’s doing and takes it very seriously. That results in what he’s doing here on the mound.”