Pirates ace Skenes closes with a 1.97 ERA, setting a remarkable record, yet the elusive win still slips away

The Pirates, having missed the playoffs, went up against the Reds today. Their blazing ace Paul Skenes delivered six innings without allowing a run in the season finale, dropping his ERA to 1.97 and establishing a new live-ball era team record. Still, true to his “ask the heavens” trait, the victory slipped away.

Skenes started strong by recording six consecutive outs. Although he gave up two hits in the bottom of the third and surrendered a double to Tyler Stephenson at the start of the fifth, he managed to maintain a shutout thanks to his strikeout ability.

Skenes completed six innings, allowing four hits but no runs, while striking out seven. His season stats now stand at a 1.97 ERA, 187.2 innings pitched, and 216 strikeouts.

As the top contender for this year’s National League Cy Young Award, Skenes currently leads in ERA and is the first Pirates starter in the live-ball era to finish a full qualifying season with an ERA under 2.00. He is also the first starter since Justin Verlander’s 1.75 ERA in 2022 to end a season below 2.00.

Skenes shares the National League lead in strikeouts with Giants’ Logan Webb and Phillies’ Jesus Luzardo, but wins remain his biggest weakness. He finished the season with a 10-10 record, not even ranking in the top 19 for wins in the league.

When Skenes left the game, the Pirates held a 2-0 lead. However, the Reds scored once in both the eighth and ninth innings to tie the game, and the Pirates only secured a narrow 4-3 victory in the 11th inning of extra innings.

After making history, Skenes joked about his ERA compared to his rookie year’s 1.96: “Yeah, I’m 0.01 worse than last year, which means I’m not as good as before.” He quickly added it was just a joke and noted he hadn’t set specific goals this season: “But it shows I did what I needed to do and produced solid results.”

With the Pirates already eliminated from the playoffs, this game was more of an “ERA defense battle” for Skenes. Nevertheless, he focused more on winning than preserving stats: “Having an ERA under 2 is great, but I don’t think after four innings I started thinking ‘just keep the ERA under 2.’ I wasn’t watching the numbers; I was focused on beating the opponent.”

In the end, despite the risk of his ERA rising above 2, Skenes chose to pitch two extra innings and still earned an excellent grade. His teammates were not surprised by his performance: “I know how hard he works every day, so it’s no surprise. He trains fully and gives everything he can for the game.”

Though missing the playoffs, Skenes finished the season with near-perfect pitching. Reflecting on his final start, he expressed mixed feelings: “I knew this was my last outing this year, so I wanted to enjoy it. But thinking about not pitching for about six months makes me a bit sad. I hope to keep pitching and enjoy the pure joy of it. Keeping my ERA below 2 is pretty good, I think.”