Paul Skenes Makes Pirates History to end 2026 Season
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PITTSBURGH — Paul Skenes may not have had the 2026 season he wanted, but he was still dominant for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Skenes notched his 200th strikeout in his final start of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on Sept. 24, finishing with eight strikeouts over 6.1 innings.
He had 192 strikeouts coming into this game, so he needed all eight strikeouts and finished his outing by punching out Cardinals designated hitter Leo Bernal.
Skenes becomes just the third Pirates pitcher to post 200 strikeouts in back-to-back seasons, with 216 in 2025 when he won the National League Cy Young Award.
Bob Veale most recently did so for three straight seasons (1964-66), and the only other to do so in the Modern Era (since 1901), while Ed Morris first did it in 1885 (298) and 1886 (326).
How Skenes Made it to 200 Strikeouts
Skenes was on track for more strikeouts before August, but he posted just 44 strikeouts over the final two months of the season.
His last two starts got him to 200 strikeouts, 15 combined, seven against the Kansas City Royals at PNC Park on Sept. 18.
Strikeouts Per Month
Month | Strikeouts | Starts (Innings Pitched) |
|---|---|---|
March/April | 39 | 7 (34.0) |
May | 36 | 5 (31.1) |
June | 39 | 5 (27.2) |
July | 42 | 6 (31.2) |
August | 19 | 4 (20.1) |
September | 25 | 5 (29.2) |
He posted at least 36 strikeouts in his first four seasons, then dropped massively in August, 19 strikeouts over four starts, posting just 10 strikeouts over his first three starts of September.
Skenes set a season-high 11 strikeouts against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park on July 25, over 6.1 innings pitched.
He also posted 10 strikeouts in three different games at PNC Park: May 12 against the Colorado Rockies, May 28 against the Cubs and June 14 against the Miami Marlins.
Skenes posted nine strikeouts once, eight strikeouts three times, seven strikeouts nine times, six strikeouts three times, five strikeouts four times, four strikeouts five times, two strikeouts twice and one strikeout once on Opening Day against the New York Mets at Citi Field, where he didn't make it out of the first inning.
What 200 Strikeouts Means to Skenes
Skenes gave up a solo home run to Cardinals first baseman Alec Burleson in the first inning, which could've led to further trouble in his start.
He didn't let that happen, finishing with just three hits, two walks and the home run over 6.1 innings, keeping the Pirates tied 1-1.
Skenes was at 90 pitches after six innings and still needed a strikeout to finish with 200 on the season, so he asked Pirates manager Don Kelly for at least one more and got it.
“I don’t know if he told you guys, but I was pushing to go back out," Skenes said. "I think if I had gotten a strikeout in the sixth there, I wouldn’t have gone back out, but I basically asked for one hitter and he gave it to me. I appreciate that. Obviously, ended up doing it, but if I hadn’t gotten it there, I would be sitting at 199.”
It wasn't a hard decision for Kelly, who saw a great outing from his ace and trusted when Skenes told him he felt ready to go out and do it.
"Really positive note," Kelly said on Skenes' start. "Threw the ball extremely well. Felt great. Really encouraging going into the offseason, just from quick conversations during that game that he felt really good today. Looked really good out on the mound."
Skenes won't finish with his career-high of 216 strikeouts he set last season, but it was a good mark to end 2026 on.
He finishes the year with a 3.82 ERA over 32 starts and 174.1 innings pitched, a .227 BAA and a 1.12 WHIP, a tad off from his excellent first two seasons.
Skenes said he felt better in this outing than he had in his last few, and he was proud of getting through this season, pushing on for 2027.
“I mean, yeah. It probably shouldn’t have come down to the last hitter of the season, but it does," Skenes said on his 200th strikeout. "The bigger thing, I think, is making 32 starts. That’s the thing I’ll hang my hat on this year.”
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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.