Paul Skenes Makes Pirates History in Domination of Rockies
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PITTSBURGH — Paul Skenes will likely go down as the best pitcher in the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates and his latest start showed that.
Skenes had a perfect game going into the fifth inning and a no-hitter going into the seventh inning in his most recent start vs. the Colorado Rockies in the series opener at PNC Park on May 12.
He may not have reached his ultimate goal, but no matter, Skenes just threw eight scoreless innings, allowed just two hits and tied his season-high of 10 strikeouts over 98 pitches in the 3-1 victory.
Skens was so dominant throughout this start, that he made some Pirates history along the way as well.
Skenes Strikeouts The First Two Innings
Yes, Skenes struckout each of the first six Rockies batters he saw, doing so with relative ease and also four times with his four-seam fastball.
He is one of just two Pirates pitchers to strikeout the first six or more batters to start a game in the expansion era (since 1961) and he actually did it in his MLB debut vs. the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park on May 11, 2024, almost two years to the day.
Former Pirates left-handed starting pitcher Andrew Heaney was the other one to do so, striking out the first six batters he saw in a 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels at Angels Stadium on April 23, 2025.
Skenes finished with 19 whiffs on 54 swings, 35% whiff rate, had six strikeouts on his fastball, three strikeouts on his changeup and another strikeout on his sweeper.
"Fastball command was pretty good," Skenes said postgame."Sinker was I think better than it has been even though we didn't throw it a ton. I was happy with the slider. Changeup was good at times. Splinker was alright."
Skenes Almost Identical In Dominance in Back-to-Back Starts
This start vs. the Rockies for Skenes is almost similar to his outing against another National League West Divisional opponent in the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on May 7.
Skenes threw eight scoreless innings and allowed just two hits vs. the Diamondbacks, while posting seven strikeouts in the 1-0 win.
He also had a perfect game going into the fifth inning in this outing as well, before throwing a groundball wide of first baseman Spencer Horwitz.
Skenes joins two other Pirates pitchers in Bob Veale (Sept.16-22, 1963) and Steve Blass (Sept. 15-20, 1968), to throw eight scoreless innings and allow two hits or fewer in back-to-back outings in the Modern Era (since 1901). Skenes is also the only one to not issue a walk in either game.
He also becomes one of four MLB pitchers in the Modern Era to pitch eight scoreless innings while allowing two or fewer hits and issuing zero walks in back-to-back starts.
Those pitchers include Hall of Famer in Boston Americans right-hander Cy Young (Sept.19 [G1]-23 [G2], 1905), Chicago White Sox's left-hander Billy Pierce (June 21-27, 1958) and San Diego Padres right-hander Mat Latos (May 7-13, 2010)
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Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.