"He’s got that feel of a pitcher” - Pirates skipper gushes about Paul Skenes electric outing in 7-0 win vs. Reds

Even on a night when Paul Skenes wasn't at his absolute best, with his 46-start record of earning six hits or less broken, he proved to be the best pitcher in the MLB, earning his 7th win of the season in a 7-0 win for the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Cincinnati Reds.

Paul Skenes keeps on delivering at PNC Park, having not allowed a run in his last five starts at home, the longest in terms of games for any Pirates pitcher since ERA was introduced to the sport in 1912, a stretch of 27.2 innings.

Barring the second and sixth innings, the 2024 Rookie of the Year winner faced runners in scoring position, but was able to come out of it each time. That lowered his opponents' batting average in scoring positions to .175 for the season.

Pirates manager Don Kelly complimented the 23-year-old for his elite command and for having the ability to fight back when faced with adversity.

"He's got that knack. He's got elite stuff, but when he gets in trouble, he's able to go to a lot of different things to get out of the inning, to be able to get punchouts or induce double plays," Kelly said.

"He's got that feel of a pitcher. He has power stuff, but he's a pitcher, and he's able to use it to induce a double play or go for the punchout when he needs it. There aren't many like him."

Skenes is currently the clear frontrunner for the NL Cy Young award. His 1.94 ERA is 40 points better than the next best, Matthew Boyd of the Chicago Cubs (2.34 ERA). He is second to Philadelphia Phillies' Zack Wheeler (0.92 WHIP) in the WHIP list and third on the strikeouts list.

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Terry Francona impressed upon seeing Paul Skenes for the first time

This is the first time the Reds faced Paul Skenes with veteran Terry Francona as their manager. The results remained the same with the 23-year-old stretching his scoreless streak against the divisional rivals to 22.0 innings.

“I’d seen enough of him on TV to know you have your hands full. We knew that," Francona said. "But I actually thought our guys did a pretty good job. We didn’t chase him around.

"By that, I mean we didn’t try to follow every pitch and got a little stubborn and had some hits. Like a really good pitcher, he made really good pitches when he needed to.”

Skenes now has a 4-0 record, with a 0.39 ERA and 33 strikeouts against Cincinnati.