Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes made his latest (and 14th career) start on Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks (GameTracker), delivering 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball while punching out four batters and walking three. In a testament to Skenes’ dominance this year, his seasonal ERA actually increased from 1.90 to 1.99 on Sunday.
Prior to the game’s start, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington detailed during his weekly radio show on 93.7 The Fan how the team intends to handle Skenes’ workload over the rest of the season.
“He’s in good shape, in terms of his total volume and where we’re projecting that between now and the rest of the season,” Cherington said, according to Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Cherington also said the Pirates may attempt to pick a spot where they have Skenes throw fewer pitches, but that his recovery between starts will be a bigger signifier than the actual innings count.
Be that as it may be, it’s worth noting that after Sunday’s start versus the Diamondbacks, Skenes has now thrown 113 1/3 innings this season between the majors and the minors. He established his current personal high last year, when he threw 129 1/3 innings between Louisiana State and the professional ranks. (CBS Sports noted last month that, for whatever it was worth, the Pirates had allowed Mitch Keller around 30 additional innings as he built his workload.)
Skenes’ next start is currently slated for next Saturday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It will represent the second time in Skenes’ big-league career that he’s faced Shohei Ohtani, who on Saturday became MLB’s first player this season to record a 30-30 season. Ohtani, of course, rapped two hits against Skenes (including a home run) in their first meeting back in early June.
