Skenes winless – Paul Skenes heads into his final June start on Friday against the Reds at PNC Park still searching for his first win since May 12. In three straight starts he’s allowed two runs over six innings each time, but none have turned into victories, including a June
By the time Paul Skenes walked into another start knowing a win still wasn’t coming, the numbers had started to feel personal.
It’s been since May 12, and Skenes has been pitching through it while his ERA sits at 4.03 across 38 innings. Over his last three starts, he’s thrown six innings and allowed two runs in each outing, but still there’s no victory attached to the effort.
Friday brings his final start of June, with the Pirates hosting the Reds at PNC Park.
Skenes opened May with momentum—two eight-inning outings and two victories—but that early promise has cooled. He’ll take the mound with a streak that forces the question Pirates fans already know will be asked again in the fifth. the sixth. and the seventh inning: how long can dominant stretches exist without turning into wins?.
Last time out, the story looked promising. Pitching in the thin air of Coors Field in Denver on June 20, Skenes struck out eight and allowed only two earned runs. The trouble was the Pirates didn’t score enough—Pittsburgh managed just one run, falling 2-1 to the Rockies.
Skenes’ damage-control effort still contained key moments that swung the game. He allowed a leadoff inside-the-park home run and then an RBI single. He also walked two or more batters for the sixth time this year. The loss dropped his record to 6-7, putting him under .500 for the first time since Opening Day.
Now he faces Cincinnati for the second time this season. On April 1, Pittsburgh’s ace earned the win against the Reds after allowing one run on three hits over five innings.
Against Cincinnati’s lineup, there’s a specific kind of comfort—and a specific kind of worry. Elly De La Cruz has gone 4-for-13 (.308) with six strikeouts against Skenes in his career. At the same time, Skenes has not allowed a homer across 122 at-bats against any player on the Reds’ current roster.
The matchup also looks stark in the aggregate. Cincinnati’s batters are 24-for-122 (.197) with only four walks against him.
There’s another layer to the plan Skenes has been running even while the wins have slipped away: the strikeouts. His 30.6% strikeout rate overall is slightly higher than it was a year ago, at 29.5%. Even as the average velocity on his four-seam fastball has dipped from 98.2 mph to 97 mph since last season. his 30.6% strikeout rate ranks in the 95th percentile in the Majors.
The tension with this start is simple on paper and harder in practice: Skenes can put up the kind of pitching that keeps games reachable, but the outcomes haven’t matched. Amazingly, he didn’t record a win last June either, despite four starts of two earned runs or fewer.
If the Pirates want something different at PNC Park, Skenes will need not just another strong outing, but the one missing link that turns his run-prevention into a final scoreboard win—something he hasn’t had since May 12.
Paul Skenes Pirates Reds PNC Park May 12 winless Coors Field June 20 Elly De La Cruz 30.6% strikeout rate 4.03 ERA