‘It was a grind,’ Pirates’ Paul Skenes reflects on perplexing season

PITTSBURGH — This article originally appeared on PGHBaseballNOW.com.

Paul Skenes’ perplexing 2026 season came to an end on Thursday afternoon at PNC Park.

Skenes started against the Cardinals in his team’s final home game of the 2026 season. The right-hander held St. Louis to one run on three hits with two walks and eight strikeouts in a 2-1 Pirates’ win, their 81st of the season.

“He threw the ball great,” said manager Don Kelly.

Skenes was at 90 pitches with seven strikeouts through six innings, but he trotted out back to the mound for one more batter in the seventh inning. Skenes struck out Cardinals designated hitter Leo Bernal, which gave him 200 punchouts on the season. He became the third pitcher in Pirates history to have two consecutive seasons with at least 200 strikeouts.

“I was pushing to go back out,” Skenes said of chasing his 200th strikeout. “I think if I had gotten a strikeout in the sixth there, I wouldn’t have gone back out. But I basically asked for one hitter and [Kelly] gave it to me. I appreciate that.”

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