Pirates going through familiar story by wasting Paul Skenes' starts

Paul Skenes gives the Pittsburgh Pirates their best chance to win when he takes the mound. However, that has not been the case over his last seven appearances.

Skenes has not entirely been himself in those outings, posting a 4.03 ERA and a 1.316 WHiP over his 38 innings, striking out 51 batters with 11 walks. However, Skenes allowed two or fewer runs in five of those seven outings, giving the Pirates a chance to win.

Instead, the Pirates have lost every one of those outings. Their lineup scored a total of 19 runs in that span, with nine of those runs coming in an 11-9 loss on June 3.

A familiar story with Pittsburgh Pirates and Paul Skenes

The Pirates' lineup has been an ongoing storyline in Skenes' outings. He was phenomenal in 2025, posting a major league-leading 1.97 ERA and a 0.948 WHiP over his 187.2 innings, striking out 216 batters with 42 walks. Despite that performance, Skenes finished the season with a 10-10 record as the Pirates scored a total of 108 runs in his 32 starts, scoring two or fewer runs in 13 of those outings.

The Pirates lineup is better this season, having posted a .254/.334/.407 batting line entering Sunday. Their .741 OPS is the fifth-best in the majors, and their 383 runs rank sixth overall. The lineup had even performed well when Skenes was on the mound, scoring 56 runs in his first seven starts. That changed once the calendar flipped to May. The Pirates have scored 23 runs in Skenes' last nine appearances. 

If the Pirates are going to remain in the playoff hunt, they will need to take advantage of Skenes outings. Otherwise, 2026 could look just like every other year.