PITTSBURGH — It is difficult to find any negatives about Paul Skenes.
The Pirates right-hander leads the Major Leagues with a 1.98 ERA. He is considered the favorite to win the National League Cy Young Award a year after winning NL Rookie of the Year. Skenes has started in the All-Star Game in both of his seasons in the big leagues.
However, the only knock — if you could call it that — on Skenes was that his record had not been above .500 all season. That finally changed Thursday night.
“They can’t say that about me anymore,” Skenes said with a sly smile.
Skenes pitched six scoreless innings to improve his record to 10-9 as the Pirates held off the Dodgers, 5-3, at PNC Park and swept the three-game series against the NL West leaders.
Skenes strengthened his already strong case to win the Cy Young. Just two Pirates have won Cy Youngs, Vernon Law in 1960 and Doug Drabek in 1990.
Pirates manager Don Kelly is willing to be Skenes’ campaign manager.
“Obviously, for the guy, the way he works, the way he competes, the stuff he’s got, the way he goes about it, we all want that for him,” Kelly said. “Hopefully, it’s this year. Whether it’s this year or not, he’s a Cy Young-worthy pitcher. It would mean a lot to Paul, to the organization, for him to win that.
“Knowing Paul and the way he goes about things, the thing that is so impressive is that’s not why he does what he does. He does what he does because he wants to be really good. He wants to be great. And he wants to go out there and help the Pittsburgh Pirates win baseball games.”
The Dodgers entered the game as the third-highest scoring team in MLB with an average of 5.09 runs a game. Yet Skenes gave up just two hits, struck out eight — including NL MVP favorite Shohei Ohtani twice — and walked one.
“They call it ‘The Show’ for a reason,” Skenes said of the challenge of facing a team like the Dodgers. “That’s the stuff that you enjoy. Going for a sweep at home against arguably the best team in baseball, those are cool opportunities. You can’t take them for granted.”
Skenes also isn’t taking for granted that he is considered the Cy Young favorite.
“It comes down to pitching well,” Skenes said. “You can pitch well and give up runs, and you can not pitch well and not give up runs. I got four or five starts left. I don’t want to leave anything out on the field going into the offseason. It’s the same mindset I had last year. Wherever I end up I end up, but I don’t want to leave anything out there.”
The Pirates scored five runs in five innings off Blake Snell, a two-time Cy Young winner himself, to help withstand a Dodgers’ last-ditch rally. Tommy Pham opened the scoring with an RBI single in the third inning. The Pirates then had a four-run fifth that pushed their lead to 5-0 with Nick Yorke’s two-run double.
The Dodgers scored three runs in the ninth inning to make it a two-run game, but Colin Holderman got the last two outs for his first save since 2023. Holderman entered with a 7.89 ERA in 20 games this season.
The Pirates have won 12 of their last 16 games and are 52-51 since Don Kelly replaced Derek Shelton as manager on May 8. The Pirates were 12-26 at the time of the switch.
“We’re playing good baseball,” Skenes said. “I don’t know what confidence comes from, individually or team-wise. I think to an extent, it comes from success. So, I think we’ve shown ourselves that we can do it, and that gives us confidence.”
