Skenes tops 200 K's as Pirates manage workload

BALTIMORE -- After surpassing 200 strikeouts for the archetypal clip successful his career, Pirates ace Paul Skenes admitted it was bully to get a breather.

The NL Cy Young front-runner reached 203, fanning 8 Orioles batters successful Pittsburgh's 2-1, 10-inning loss to Baltimore connected Wednesday night.

It might've been much had manager Don Kelly not removed the overpowering right-hander aft a season-low 64 pitches with an oculus toward managing his workload astatine the backmost extremity of his archetypal afloat play successful the majors.

"The main extremity that I've had coming into the past 2 years is making each start," said the 23-year-old Skenes, who worked 5 scoreless, two-hit frames successful his 30th outing. "There are opportunities to springiness and instrumentality passim the season, and contiguous was benignant of 1 of those. I astir apt needed it, to beryllium honest."

Skenes has a majors-best 1.92 ERA implicit 178 innings aft combining for 160⅓ past play betwixt the Pirates and Triple-A Indianapolis.

"I pitched successful September past twelvemonth but it was different," Skenes said. "Throwing 160 innings with 27 of them successful the minors, it's not the aforesaid arsenic throwing 160 innings each successful the large leagues."

He could instrumentality up 3 much turns successful Pittsburgh's rotation earlier the play concludes, but the outings successful 2026 and beyond could beryllium much important; Wednesday's nonaccomplishment was the 82nd for the Pirates, guaranteeing a seventh consecutive below-.500 play and 29th retired of the past 33.

Kelly said Skenes' late-season workload would beryllium evaluated connected a start-by-start basis.

"Like we've talked astir with each the guys," Kelly said. "Just trying to marque definite that we're managing their workload, marque definite that they're going each the mode done the extremity of the play steadfast and acceptable to decorativeness a afloat play and beryllium acceptable for adjacent year."

Wednesday was Skenes' 11th commencement successful which helium completed 5 innings without allowing a run. Eight of those person travel since the opening of July.

He's lone the 2nd Pirates starter successful the modern epoch (since 1901) to scope 200 strikeouts successful 180 innings oregon fewer. Oliver Perez became the archetypal successful 2004.