Paul Skenes is optimistic of better things to come for the Pittsburgh Pirates next season. In the meantime, he is hoping to finish off a strong rookie season on a positive note while facing Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.
Skenes makes his final start of the season Saturday afternoon when the Pirates visit the New York Yankees.
The Pirates (75-85) are concluding their sixth straight losing season and eighth in nine seasons since 2015 but opened the series with a 4-2 victory on Friday. Bryan Reynolds hit a tying homer off Carlos Rodon in the sixth inning and a tiebreaking two-run homer off Tommy Kahnle in the eighth.
“We’re going to be better next year,” Skenes told reporters earlier this week. “We’re going to win a lot more games next year. So just keep coming.
Despite the Pirates having just 19 wins in their past 50 games, Skenes (11-3, 1.99 ERA) is performing at an elite level and will face Judge and Soto again after facing the duo in the All-Star Game.
“It’ll be cool,” Skenes said. “Obviously, (a) one of a kind of destination for baseball. But at the end of the day, it’s just baseball. Got to treat it like normal and go from there.”
Skenes has not allowed more than four runs in any of his 22 starts and has produced six scoreless outings and another six in which he allowed one run. Skenes has yielded two runs in 22 innings over four starts this month and heads into his Yankee Stadium debut after striking out nine and allowing two hits in five innings of a 2-0 win at Cincinnati on Sunday.
The former No. 1 overall pick out of LSU has pitched 131 innings in the majors after throwing 27 1/3 innings during seven starts for Triple-A Indianapolis. Skenes pitched 122 2/3 innings in his final college season and threw 6 2/3 innings in the minors last season, so the Pirates are still monitoring his workload.
“I didn’t put a ton of expectations on the year other than to really learn and then go out there and execute to the best of my ability and whatever happens, happens,” Skenes said earlier this week.
The Yankees (93-67) are looking forward to their first encounter with Skenes while also trying to wrap up the best record in the American League. New York is one game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians and would win the tiebreaker should the teams finish deadlocked.
“I can’t wait,” New York third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. said of facing Skenes. “That’s my type of thing. I like the challenge.”
The Yankees likely will have Judge back in the lineup after the slugger rested on Friday after the team clinched the AL East title the previous night. Judge has tied a career high by homering in five straight games and has seven of his major-league-leading 58 homers in his past 12 contests.
New York’s Luis Gil (15-6, 3.27 ERA), who is tied with the Chicago Cubs’ Shota Imanga for the most wins among rookies, will start for the Yankees on Saturday. Gil also is fourth among rookies with 166 strikeouts. He has 22 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings across four starts since returning on Sept. 6 from a brief absence caused by a back injury.
Gil has allowed one run or fewer 17 times, one shy of the team record held by Jack Chesbro (1904), Whitey Ford (1964) and Ron Guidry (1978). He picked up his third straight win Sunday at Oakland when he allowed four runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings.
