Skenes keeps his focus, fire in crushing Cubs over six no-hit innings

CHICAGO -- Paul Skenes admits he didn't pay much attention to his pitch count as he entered the sixth inning of the Pirates' eventual 9-3 victory over the Cubs on this Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Facing the same opponent for the second time in six days, he was at 81 pitches and had yet to surrender a hit while yielding one baserunner on a fifth-inning walk. 

Rather than worry about when he might exit, he set his sights on executing pitches and navigating his way through the opposing hitters that were left in front of him. He concluded a pair of lengthy at-bats by inducing softly-hit groundouts before he found himself locked into a battle with Chicago's leadoff hitter, Mike Tauchman, who had struck out in his previous two at-bats. Skenes fell behind 3-1 and risked walking another batter. Instead, he generated back-to-back swinging strikes, including this third one on a 100-mph fastball on pitch No. 100: 

"It showed me that he was able to finish," Derek Shelton said. "Tauchman's a good hitter, and he fouls off a ton of pitches. So, the fact that he was able to finish, finish with the velocity, the crispness that he did, I think it was really important for him." 

That was the last pitch Skenes threw and, thus, the final example of the exemplary fastball execution he put on display in his second major-league start, as he leaned on the heater heavily and generated 12 whiffs with it en route to putting together a historic encore performance with 11 strikeouts in six no-hit innings. He became the fourth rookie in National League/American League history to pitch six-plus innings with no hits allowed and 10-plus strikeouts.

"It’s really tough to compete without fastball execution, no matter who you are. It was a lot better today, something I could lean on a little bit more than last week," Skenes said. "I felt good. It’s easier to pitch when you feel good. Had a better idea of where my fastball was going. It’s not easy to pitch, regardless of the circumstances, but it’s always easier to pitch when you have fastball command cause you have to have that. That was the big thing today.” 

Skenes struck out the first seven batters he faced, threw 67 of 100 pitches for strikes and registered 18 pitches at 100-plus mph. Six of his strikeouts came on triple-digit fastballs, while two more were at 99. 

A rapid-fire view of all 11 strikeouts: 

"Man, Paul is just impressive. What else can you say about him?" said Hunter Stratton, who struck out three batters in 1 1/3 innings to close out the win. "He's so young and comes up here facing guys who have been around a minute, and he's hanging with them, and more. He's just one of the more impressive arms I've ever seen. Him and Jared Jones are just lights out together. It's incredible." 

Skenes' high-pitch count kept him from pitching deeper into the game and having a chance at making history with a nine-inning no-hitter. 

For Shelton and company, there was a fine line between wanting to see him continue his special outing and knowing it wasn't possible for him to go the distance. 

"Yeah, I understand where he's at, but we also have to understand what our process is and how important he is to us," Shelton said. "He's not finishing it, for sure, so he did his job." 

Skenes appeared locked in from the get-go, throwing 13 pitches in the first inning and collecting strikeouts of Tauchman, Ian Happ and Cody Bellinger via triple-digit fastballs. But that's not where his strikeout-spree ended. He proceeded to pick up seven in a row, coming two shy of tying the major-league record for most consecutive strikeouts to begin a game. 

He said he thinks he was aware of the amount of strikeouts he racked up through the first three innings, but didn't focus much on it:

"It doesn’t really matter," he said. "Just have to go out there and execute.” 

It certainly caught the attention of Shelton, though. 

"I mean the first three innings, it's about as good as it gets," Shelton said. "I mean seven punches in the first nine hitters? You don't see that." 

While Skenes clearly found ways to get hitters out with a heater that averaged around 99 mph on the radar gun, he used the entire arsenal to his advantage. He got a few strikeouts with his splitter -- a pitch he turned to on 33 occasions -- and mixed in 15 sliders to keep hitters off balance. He even managed to throw a few curveballs and changeups to switch things up at times. 

"I felt like we could call pretty much anything we wanted," Yasmani Grandal said. "So yeah, it just made things easier for me... Something's working today, we're just going to use it. Guy like him, I feel like I can just pretty much call anything I want and it's going to be a strike. It's an unbelievable pitch in a good location."

The presence of Grandal, a 13-year veteran, behind the plate clearly made a difference for Skenes, too. Those two have now worked together a few times dating back to Grandal's nine-game rehab stint at Class AAA Indianapolis and have reaped the benefits of their familiarity with one another. 

"We're building a rapport, for sure," Skenes said. "I don't know that I shook him once. It was really good." 

Skenes made history in more ways than one: 

• Tied for fifth-most strikeouts by a Pirates rookie and most since Gerrit Cole had 12 on Sept. 19, 2013 vs. San Diego.

• Skenes recorded the 21st double-digit strikeout game by a Pirates rookie and the third this season. Jones has the other two -- March 30 at Miami and May 4 vs. Colorado. The last time the Pirates had three 10-plus strikeout performances by rookie pitchers in a single season was in 1983 when Jose DeLeon had all three of them.

• Became the first Pirates pitcher to record 11-plus strikeouts in a game at Wrigley Field.

• Became the first Pirates pitcher since 1900 to strike out the first seven batters. Seven consecutive strikeouts at any point in a game matches the franchise record, set by Francisco Liriano on June 1, 2013, vs. the Reds and Erik Bedard on May 3, 2012, vs. the Cardinals. 

• Became the third rookie pitcher all-time to record seven strikeouts to start a game, joining Jacob deGrom on Sept. 15, 2014 (eight strikeouts in his 21st career game) and Jim Deshaies on Sept. 23, 1986 (eight strikeouts in his 28th career game).

• Skenes is the third pitcher -- fourth time -- since 2008 to record three strikeouts on 100-plus mph pitches in a single inning. The Dodgers' Bobby Miller did it last season, and the Reds' Hunter Greene accomplished the feat twice in 2022.

Not too shabby of a list, huh? 

"Paul Skenes was really good today," Rowdy Tellez said. "When you go out there and you have somebody like him on the mound shutting it down from the first pitch, that's huge. That brings momentum to the offense, too. He really set the tempo early." 

Skenes' highly anticipated debut last weekend saw him allow three runs and strike out seven in only four innings of work. This time, he didn't have to deal with the first-game jitters or the pomp and circumstance of a first start, the home crowd and all else. All he had to do -- in front of 35,372 fans at Wrigley -- was execute. 

"The debut was extremely well-hyped. It was a great atmosphere at home, so it's nice to just get him in the regular flow of being a major-league pitcher, and I think he handled himself," Shelton said. "And this is a challenging environment. I mean, 35,000 people, they're into the game, they know the game. I was just really proud of how he handled the environment."

Based on the current rotation, the next environment Skenes will encounter is back home next Thursday, 12:35 p.m., against the Giants at PNC Park.