Paul Skenes closes underwhelming season with start vs. Cardinals

Paul Skenes will make his final start of a disappointing season as he tries to lead the host Pittsburgh Pirates to a win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday afternoon in the decisive contest of a three-game series.

Skenes (10-11, 3.91 ERA) will attempt to help the Pirates (80-78) secure their first non-losing season since 2018. It would be only their second non-losing mark since 2015, which was the last time they made the playoffs. Pittsburgh will be playing its home finale.

The 2025 National League Cy Young Award winner will oppose Cardinals right-hander Kyle Leahy (10-5, 3.65) as St. Louis (77-81) tries to win for the third time in four games. The Cardinals need to prevail in all four of their remaining games to avoid a second straight losing season.

Skenes has seen his ERA nearly double from the 1.97 he posted last season, while his fastball velocity has dipped from 98.1 mph to 96.8 mph.

This week, Skenes stated he thinks pitching for Team USA in March during the World Baseball Classic may have contributed to his drop in fastball speed and his struggles this season.

"Usually, that time of year, you're kind of ramping up and it's a little bit slow. You can kind of get onto the slope and find your body," Skenes said. "One live (batting practice), you're topping at 97 (mph), and then the next you're 98, 99. And that wasn't the case this year. ... Looking back, I don't think that really helped."

Skenes had a stretch of nine starts from May 17 to July 1 during which he went 0-6 with a 5.36 ERA and the Pirates lost every time he pitched. Over his past 13 starts since then, Skenes is 4-3 with a 4.31 ERA over 71 innings, with Pittsburgh going 8-5 in that span.

The 24-year-old LSU product gave up five runs on six hits, including two home runs, over six innings against the Kansas City Royals on Friday in his most recent start. He struck out seven and walked one in a no-decision.

Skenes is 0-5 with a 2.74 ERA in seven career starts vs. St. Louis. In his lone outing against the Cardinals this season, in Pittsburgh on April 30, he allowed five runs, three earned, on seven hits, including two home runs, while striking out nine and walking none over five innings.

The Cardinals, who clinched the season series against the Pirates with their 5-1 win on Wednesday, will look to finish with eight wins in 13 meetings against their NL Central rivals.

Leahy, who has been on an innings limit of late, is coming off one of his poorer outings of the season. He gave up seven runs, six earned, on five hits and three walks and struck out only one in three innings during a 9-1 loss to the Washington Nationals on Friday.

"It's disappointing. I didn't make a lot of great pitches," Leahy said. "I'm going to go through my bullpen with intent to get better as I always do."

Leahy has not pitched more than three innings in any of his past five starts, with the Cardinals going 1-4 in that stretch. He doesn't have a win since Aug. 18.

Leahy is 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA in nine career appearances against the Pirates. Both of his starts vs. Pittsburgh occurred this year. He fired 5 2/3 innings of three-run ball at Pittsburgh on April 28 to earn a win, then threw three innings of one-run ball in St. Louis during a no-decision on Aug. 29.