Pittsburgh Pirates' Paul Skenes Enters Historic Company with Another Solid Game Friday

The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the reeling Seattle Mariners on Friday night at PNC Park as Paul Skenes entered some historic company with another solid outing.

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes (30) delivers a pitch against the Seattle Mariners during the fourth inning at PNC Park on Aug 16. / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the reeling Seattle Mariners on Friday night, 5-3, at PNC Park. The win snapped the 10-game losing streak for Pittsburgh and sent Seattle its fourth-straight loss. Seattle has fallen all the way back to 3.0 games back in the American League West and is now 4.5 games back of the wild card.

In the win, Pirates rookie and National League Rookie of the Year favorite Paul Skenes put together another solid outing. Though his control wasn't his best, he navigated the M's lineup and worked through a few problem spots. He went 6.0 innings in all, surrendering two runs on three hits. Though he walked four, he struck out six.

He's now 7-2 on the season with a 2.30 ERA. He started the All-Star Game for the National League this summer. WIth the six strikeouts, he also joined a rare list in baseball history.

Per @StatsCentre on social media:

Set to take to the mound for his @Pirates when they face off vs the Mariners, Paul Skenes has thrown 115 strikeouts through just 15 games (all of them starts) so far in his young MLB journey. With at least 5 tonight, he would join this list of starts to a pitcher's career in MLB

Set to take to the mound for his @Pirates when they face off vs the Mariners, Paul Skenes has thrown 115 strikeouts through just 15 games (all of them starts) so far in his young MLB journey. With at least 5 tonight, he would join this list of starts to a pitcher's career in MLB pic.twitter.com/u7ujCjONhx

— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) August 16, 2024

Now, through 16 career starts, Skenes has 121 strikeouts. That ranks only behind Doc Gooden (125), Herb Score (125), Masahiro Tanaka (127), Mark Prior (129), Hideo Nomo (139) and Kerry Wood (148) for most strikeouts in the first 16 games of a career.

The Pirates will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they play the Mariners at 1:05 p.m. ET.

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