Paul Skenes continued his mastery of major-league hitters on Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Unfortunately for last year’s National League Rookie of the Year, who exploded onto the scene after starring at LSU, his stunning lack of run support also continued.
Yes, Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates ultimately won Friday’s matinee against the first-place Chicago Cubs, getting a run in the 10th inning in a 2-1 victory. Once again, though, Skenes’s best efforts weren’t rewarded with a victory.
The right-handed flamethrower who led LSU to the 2023 national championship tossed 5 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. His pitch count got run up a bit, and Skenes was pulled after 5 innings after throwing 95 pitches, 60 for strikes.
Skenes did get a little help from his defense to preserve his latest gem, with Ian Happ getting thrown out at home on a Kyle Tucker double to end the 5th inning and end Skenes’s outing. Unfortunately, Skenes was given no help from his offense. He’s now allowed 1 or fewer earned runs in 7 straight starts, yet Skenes sits here in mid-June with a 4-6 record.
Out of those 7 straight stellar starts, he’s only gotten the decision in 3 of those games, and 2 of them have been losses. Paul Skenes has a ridiculously good 1.78 ERA and 0.85 WHIP to go with 97 strikeouts, which also tells fans how ridiculous that 4-6 record truly is.
Despite the record, Skenes is still the frontrunner for the NL Cy Young Award, coming in at -300 via BetMGM. That is far from surprising after Skenes finished 3rd in CY Young voting as a rookie, in spite of appearing in just 23 games, and fans can grab their choice of Louisiana sports betting app to take advantage of those odds.
Skenes can only do his part, of course, so he will continue to try to put up 0s on the scoreboard and hope that the anemic Pirates offense finally provides him with some support as we hit the summer months.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
