The Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals played an exciting game on Tuesday, one that featured a pitching duel between young ace Paul Skenes and veteran starter Lance Lynn.
In the end, the Cardinals came out on top and handed Skenes his first career loss.
It wasn’t, by any means, Skenes’ fault, though.
He had pitched eight magnificent frames in which he conceded a single run, but his manager opted to send him to the mound to open the ninth inning.
That proved to be the wrong decision: Skenes is fantastic, but by that point, Cards’ hitters had gotten three or four looks against him and his stuff.
Skenes surrendered a leadoff double in the frame, and after getting a groundout, conceded a single that broke the tie.
Despite the loss, he tossed 8.1 solid innings of two runs, no walks and eight strikeouts.
He was dominant and ended up creating a whole new club, just for himself.
“Every pitcher in history to strike out 80+ batters in the first 12 starts of their MLB career while allowing fewer than 20 runs: 1. Paul Skenes (97 strikeouts, 16 runs allowed). That’s it. That’s the list,” Codify Baseball tweeted.
Every pitcher in history to strike out 80+ batters in the first 12 starts of their MLB career while allowing fewer than 20 runs:
1. Paul Skenes (97 strikeouts, 16 runs allowed)
That’s it. That’s the list. pic.twitter.com/IMHJkBhzIJ
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) July 24, 2024
Skenes has given the Pirates something they lacked for years: a true, bonafide ace.
Now, their rotation went from being a liability for years to a true strength: it has Mitch Keller, Jared Jones, Luis Ortiz, and of course Skenes.
His season ERA is now 1.93, his WHIP is an even better 0.87, and it took 12 starts for someone to beat him.
He is now 6-1 for the season and is a leading candidate to win the National League Rookie of the Year award when all is said and done.
