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Paul Skenes has been utterly dominant in his sophomore season. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ ace has followed up his epic, 2024 NL Rookie of the Year campaign with another incredible effort. Despite a historic lack of run support, Skenes continues to dazzle Pirates fans.
In Pittsburgh’s series opener against the Minnesota Twins Friday, Skenes got off to a blazing-hot start. He began his outing by striking out the side in order, per MLB on X.
Paul Skenes doing Paul Skenes things 💪
He strikes out the side in order to start the game! pic.twitter.com/Yg0wEXi4NP
— MLB (@MLB) July 12, 2025
Skenes mowed down the top of the Twins’ lineup, striking out Byron Buxton looking, blowing a 99 mph four-seamer past Willi Castro and getting Trevor Larnach to swing through an 88 mph changeup.
Paul Skenes has been dominant despite Pirates’ weak run support
After beginning the Pirates' matchup against Minnesota with three scoreless frames, Skenes had not given up a run in his last 13 innings. But Larnach broke the shutout streak with a two-run homer off Skenes in the bottom of the fourth.
Despite a dominant start to the season, Skenes has just four wins, which makes for a bizarre ERA vs. record combo. Entering Friday’s contest, the 23-year-old righty had a major league-leading 1.94 ERA and 220 ERA+ along with a 0.922 WHIP, 4.8 bWAR and 125 strikeouts in 116 innings pitched over 19 starts.
The standout season earned Skenes his second All-Star nod and he could end up starting the game for the National League after he started the Midsummer Classic in his rookie year.
The Pirates showed some signs of life, closing out June with a six-game winning streak. However, Pittsburgh followed that effort with a six-game losing streak that began with the team getting shut out in three straight games.
The Pirates wasted a strong start from Skenes in one of those shutout losses. He allowed five hits and no walks while racking up 10 strikeouts in five scoreless innings against the Seattle Mariners. Unfortunately, the bullpen gave up a run and Pittsburgh’s offense wasn’t able to score. The team lost 1-0.
At 38-56 the Pirates have the third-worst record in baseball. The team is 17 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central and 13 games back in the Wild Card standings. Pittsburgh appears on its way to missing the playoffs for the 10th straight season.
