100th K puts Skenes in select company

HOUSTON -- As Paul Skenes continues to blossom from young phenom to Major League star, it’s inevitable that he’s going to challenge or make some history along the way. And he did so again Monday at Minute Maid Park, striking out his 100th Major League batter when Jon Singleton whiffed on a second-inning changeup.

If it seems like he hit that milestone quickly, well, it is because he did. It took him just 13 games to hit the century mark, becoming just the sixth pitcher in the Modern Era to do so. The others are Hideo Nomo (achieved June 29, 1995), Herb Score (June 9, 1955) and Kerry Wood (June 15, 1998) – all of whom accomplished the feat in 12 games – and Jose DeLeon (Sept. 21, 1983) and Masahiro Tanaka (June 11, 2014).

It wasn’t on Skenes’ radar before the game, though. In fact, he didn’t find out until the postgame scrum with reporters.

"It's pretty cool,” Skenes said. “That's where the game is now. Starting pitchers get rewarded. That's the goal to get a lot of swing and miss."

“I think it just speaks to how good his stuff is,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton.

Plenty has been written and said about how good that stuff is. That’s hardly a secret anymore. But it was what Skenes used during his six innings of two-run ball in the Pirates’ 5-3 win over the Astros that made things interesting Monday.

For one, his pitch selection for strikeout No. 100. Until Singleton, Skenes had not struck out a batter with his changeup in his career to that point. He also leaned more on his slider than we’ve seen, throwing 28 times in his 101-pitch outing, but for a peculiar reason.

"I thought it was terrible,” Skenes said. “I wasn't executing them and frankly got lucky."

So why keep throwing it?

“I was trying to find it,” he answered with a grin, showing that unspoken confidence he has in his ability and team.

Alas for Skenes, his historic night did come at the cost of another streak he had going. He had struck out at least seven batters in nine straight starts entering Monday, tied with Dwight Gooden (1984) and Brandon Beachy (2011) for the longest such streak for a rookie. That came to an end Monday where he struck out only six.

“There were a lot of opportunities that I missed there,” Skenes said. “A couple two-strike hits, I think. I had a few strikeouts, but I could've had more."

Surely there will be more, and given where the Pirates are in the Wild Card standings at the moment, the win definitely meant more. It couldn’t have happened without Skenes’ start, where he was able to navigate through traffic, with his only runs allowed coming when Ke’Bryan Hayes couldn’t handle a bad hop and what could have been an inning-ending double play turned into two runs.

Instead of folding, though, Skenes shoved back when his team needed him.

“They made him work,” Shelton said. “This is a veteran lineup with some really good hitters. The first three guys in this lineup are as good as it gets, and they made him grind a little bit. He did a nice job. He executed pitches when he had to. We had the error the one inning, but he got a punchout and could have been out of it, so overall he just continues to impress.”

And as for the strikeouts? Well, 100 certainly won’t be the last milestone he hits.