Fastball

Pittsburgh Pirates Paul Skenes Posts Another Solid Start to Move Up History Books

The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night as Paul Skenes dominated on the mound.

Brady Farkas

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes (30) walks on the field before a game against the Seattle Mariners at PNC Park on Aug 17.
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes (30) walks on the field before a game against the Seattle Mariners at PNC Park on Aug 17. / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
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The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-0 on Thursday night at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. The National League Central battle brought the Pirates to 60-67 on the season while dropping the Reds to 62-66.

In the win, Pirates rookie starter Paul Skenes put together a great performance. The former No. 1 pick in the draft out of LSU went 6.0 innings, surrendering no runs on just two hits. Armed with impeccable control, he walked just one and struck out nine.

Among the favorites for the National League Rookie of the Year, Skenes is now 8-2 with a 2.16 ERA.

The nine strikeouts moved him up an impressive list in baseball history as well, according to @StatsCentre:

Taking to the mound for his team's series opening clash against the Reds, Paul Skenes has racked up an impressive 121 strikeouts through his first 16 career MLB appearances (all of them starts). That has the @Pirates rookie requiring 7 tonight to at least tie for 7th on this list

That stat came out before the game, so Skenes now has 130 career strikeouts, tying him for sixth all-time for pitchers in their first 17 starts. With him and Jared Jones at the top of the rotation for the next several years, the Pirates seemingly have a bright future.

The two teams will play again on Friday night with first pitch coming at 6:40 p.m. ET. Left-hander Andrew Abbott will pitch for Cincinnati while lefty Bailey Falter goes for the Buccos.

Abbott is 10-10 with a 3.72 ERA and Falter is 6-7 with a 4.02.

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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. 

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