Despite lack of run support, Skenes remains focused on thriving in his role

ST. LOUIS -- With each passing start, Paul Skenes continues to thrive as a top-tier major-league pitcher. He's put together a more than impressive resume -- one few can match -- in his quest for the National League Rookie of the Year award, and he's having this rare success while continuously racking up unparalleled achievements. 

Following the six innings of one-run ball he tossed in the Pirates' 4-0 loss to the Cardinals Monday night at Busch Stadium, Skenes lowered his ERA to a minuscule 2.07 through 21 big-league starts. Since earned runs were made official in the American and National leagues in 1913, that's the second-lowest ERA by a pitcher in their first 21 starts. Steve Rogers compiled a 1.95 ERA in his first 21 appearances for the Expos from 1973 to 1974. It took 50 years for someone to come close to that mark. Only a player of Skenes' rare talent would be capable of something so impressive. 

"I think it just speaks to how good he is," Derek Shelton said. "He's faced teams in the division multiple times and they've gotten a look at him and made adjustments off it, using the fastball tonight, using the changeup. It just speaks to how talented he is." 

For someone as talented as Skenes, who allowed four hits and struck out seven Monday night to increase his season strikeout total to 158 over 126 innings, one would think he's worthy of way more than just the 10 wins he's collected since making his major-league debut in May. Sure, that's a statistic many view as being overrated in this game, but Skenes doesn't subscribe to that particular idea. 

"I'm old fashioned. Wins matter," Skenes said after his last start against the Marlins on Sept. 9. "Wins and losses matter, I think. That's kind of watered down now, but it definitely means a lot."

Skenes' win total is still rather impressive considering the fact that he didn't begin the season in the major leagues, but a lack of consistent run support has surely played a role in that number sitting at 10. The Pirates have scored two or fewer runs in support of Skenes seven times this season. On five of those occasions, only one run was put up on the board. This latest loss to the Cardinals was the first time they had been shut out in a game Skenes started. 

To put how good and consistently effective Skenes has been into perspective, he entered Monday with three defeats on his record, including on this particular night. In those losses, he struck out 23 batters over 20 1/3 innings. His line in those three outings: 

— 8.1 IP • 4 H • 2 R • 8 K • 0 BB (STL | 7/23)

— 6.0 IP • 8 H • 4 R • 8 K • 1 BB (LAD | 8/10)

— 6.0 IP • 4 H • 1 R • 7 K • 1 BB (STL | 9/16)

Regardless of how many runs the offense has generated with him on the mound, Skenes has never wavered. And, considering all that he's done during a historic rookie season, no one would expect him to. 

"Paul does a really good job with this. He focuses on his job. He can't control what happens on the other side of the ball," Shelton said of Skenes, whose lone earned run allowed Monday night came in the form of a fourth-inning RBI single by Nolan Arenado. "The fact that he just went out and continued to execute pitches, he essentially made one bad pitch -- a 3-0 pitch to Arenado which was a ground ball back through the middle. Overall, he threw the ball well." 

In the eyes of Isiah Kiner-Falefa, that one run charged to Skenes shouldn't have even counted toward his earned run total. Prior to Arenado's run-scoring hit, Kiner-Falefa was unable to handle a sharply-hit grounder off the bat of Alec Burleson. It took a hop and was initially ruled an error before the official scorer changed it to a single. Burleson later scored on the Arenado single. 

“That’s an error on me," Kiner-Falefa said. "I think they changed it mid-game, but they’ve got to change that back. Definitely missed that ball and then allowed the run to score. I think that play individually alone made him throw a lot more pitches, he could have went deeper in the game. That’s a play I need to make for him right there. Definitely an error. I hope they change it back. He’s been a bulldog all year and this is only the beginning. I’m excited to see what he can do when guys start adjusting to him. We’re going to be expecting it now, so we need to see it all the time. It’s a pleasure to play behind him.”

In regards to what Shelton mentioned about Skenes focusing on his job and not being able to control what the offense is able to do, Skenes said there's no point in focusing on things out of your control. He knows his job is to go out there and pitch, while the position players are tasked with putting runs on the board. If the offense isn't providing the production necessary to help the team have a fighting chance to win, you can guarantee that Skenes will.

“Just got to execute. That’s the bottom line, just executing every individual pitch," Skenes said. “This is a failure-driven sport obviously and you see that more on the offensive side, but you can make a perfect pitch and it can still get hit hard or find a hole. You can’t control that, so you’ve got to just get back to what you can control.”