Fastball

Paul Skenes Dazzles in Second Career Start, Re-Writes All Kinds of History

The No. 1 overall pick from the 2023 draft delivered in a big way on Friday afternoon as Paul Skenes delivered a historic outing for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates also throttled the Cubs in the victory, 9-3.

Brady Farkas

May 17, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes (30) throws the ball.
May 17, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes (30) throws the ball. / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
In this story:

The Pittsburgh Pirates throttled the Chicago Cubs on Friday afternoon, 9-3, at Wrigley Field.

As he was when these teams played a week ago, Pirates' pitcher Paul Skenes was the story. The No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft did not disappoint in his second career start, throwing six no-hit innings against the National League Central contenders.

The LSU product dominated the strike zone, throwing 67 of 100 pitches for strikes. He walked just one and struck out 11.

He also made all kinds of history, some of which we've already told you about.

Let's just run down the list, with some help from Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

Paul Skenes struck out the first 7 batters to start the game

that is the:
- longest streak by a Pirates SP to start a game in franchise history
- tied for the longest streak by a PIT pitcher at any point in a game (6/1/13 Francisco Liriano, 5/3/12 Erik Bedard)
- 3rd-longest streak by a rookie SP to start a game in the live-ball era (1920), behind 9/15/14 Jacob deGrom & 9/23/86 Jim Deshaies at 8 each

h/t @EliasSports

This is the second time a pitcher 21 or younger has had a 10+ K outing with no more than 1 hit allowed at Wrigley Field

The other was Kerry Wood’s 20-K game for the Cubs in 1998

h/t @AndrewSimonMLB

And per @MLB:

The @Pirates have played 1,017 games at Wrigley Field.

@Paul_Skenes' 11 strikeouts today are more than any Pirates starting pitcher in the previous 1,016.

And back to Langs for one more...

Paul Skenes is the 2nd pitcher with a scoreless outing of 6+ IP in a game within a calendar year of being drafted No. 1 overall, joining David Clyde of the Rangers in 1973

If we add the requirement of 10+ K, then it had never been done before today

h/t @EliasSports and @ColeJacobson32

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Brady Farkas

BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.