Pirates ace and 2025 NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes started the season with a disastrous Opening Day outing. It was the worst of his career by a hefty margin. In his second start, last Wednesday in Cincinnati, he was adequate, but not all the way back to the dominant Skenes we’ve come to know.
Tuesday, Skenes made his first home start of the season. And he was all the way back to the dominant version of himself. The Pirates would win the game, 7-1, over the Padres, moving Skenes’ record to 2-1 and the Pirates up to an impressive 7-4 here in the early going. He struck out the first two batters of the game to set the tone and it was on.
Through five innings, Skenes was working on a no-hitter. He would allow a single in the sixth and a solo home run in the seventh, but he was mostly in total control of the Padres’ offense.
The final line: 6 ⅓ IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K
It’ll take some doing to get that ERA back down to where we’ve grown accustomed to seeing, given that Skenes had an ERA of 1.96 through his first two seasons and allowed five earned runs in less than an inning on Opening Day, but he’s worked it down from 67.50 to 5.25. It’ll continue to shrink and we’ll see him at the All-Star Game again.
As for a second straight Cy Young in his second full season, Skenes put himself behind with that first start, but the odds still show him as the favorite. Here are the top five (via Caesars):
Skenes’ next start is lined up for Monday, April 13 at home against the Nationals. Expect more dominance. He’s back.
