PITTSBURGH -- Paul Skenes delivered another quality start Monday at PNC Park, striking out nine as the Pirates won their series opener against the Marlins, 3-2.

Skenes pitched into the sixth inning for the first time in three starts as the Pirates have been closely monitoring his workload in his rookie season. It certainly didn’t look like he was slowing down in his 20th big league start though, hitting 100 mph on the gun six times while getting 18 whiffs, including at least one whiff on each of his six different pitches thrown on the night.

Skenes got Marlins rookie Connor Norby swinging with a 100 mph fastball in the first inning to record his 143rd strikeout, the new franchise record for strikeouts by a Pirates rookie since 1900. He finished with nine strikeouts, giving him 151 for the season.

On the night, he worked around six hits and a walk while allowing just one earned run in the fourth on an Otto Lopez base hit. Colin Holderman, Dennis Santana and Aroldis Chapman shut the Marlins down from there to secure the Pirates win.

Oneil Cruz opened the scoring with a 444-foot blast to center field in the first inning, and Bryan Reynolds tacked on a two-run single with two outs in the second.

The Pirates are now 68-76 on the season.