With the Pirates reeling from a dismal three-game sweep in Cincinnati over the weekend, would anyone be surprised if Paul Skenes, the former 2023 No. 1 overall pick and certified ace of the staff, didn't perform? 

Yea, didn't think so. 

Just take one more look at this 1-2 slider to Nationals infielder Paul DeJong in the top of the fifth inning that resulted in a toss of the bat toward Ke'Bryan Hayes at third base:

Yup, that's Skenes, the stopper that helped the Pirates end a three-game skid with a 10-3 win over the Nationals at PNC Park in front of a crowd of 10,402.

This outing, his fourth start of the young 2025 season, followed one of the worst outings of his career last week when he gave up six hits and five earned runs to the Cardinals. But, as Skenes said then, he wasn't going to lose sleep over it, and didn't.

The reigning National League Rookie of the Year was as good as he's been throughout a majority of his 27 career starts. He threw 99 pitches over six innings, struck out six and allowed just three hits while giving up two runs, one earned and zero walks.

"That’s what you expect out of guys with his stuff," Derek Shelton said after this one. "I mean, we did not play great in Cincinnati and we got pitched to a little bit and he stopped it. That’s exactly what you’d expect from someone like that."

Skenes faced just two over the minimum through his first two innings, as he nipped James Wood with a curveball on the top of his front toe in the first inning and then gave up a single to DeJong in the second. However, from that point on, Skenes set down the next 10 batters he faced, including former Louisiana State teammate Dylan Crews on two occasions. 

That streak included four strikeouts, four ground ball outs and two fly outs. He also threw 15 or fewer pitches in the third, fourth and fifth innings, allowing him to extend his outing by at least another inning after throwing 21 pitches in the first.

"I think we just did a good job hitting locations, mixing speeds — all that cool stuff that pitching is," Skenes said about that string of success. "They're a pesky squad. They put the bat on the ball and hit balls hard, so it was nice to get through that however many hitters it was. It was good to go on a roll there."

Skenes also had to adjust to Henry Davis behind the plate as Endy Rodriguez left the game after the ball that hit Woods caromed into his right hand. He had to get four stitches on his right index finger and Shelton said he'll probably have to go to the IL.

Despite that, Davis and Skenes still had a job to do and Davis didn't disappoint behind the plate. He was prepared for how to attack the Nationals and the two became the first pair of No. 1 overall picks to form a battery pair in Major League Baseball history.

"He can call a game. He can catch. He was prepared. It's not a surprise," Skenes said. "I've been with him for the better part of two years now and you want to see why he's the type of player he is, you don't have to look very far. He's one of the most prepared players I've ever been around. For him to come into a tough situation, call the game and catch as well as he did -- says a lot about him." 

Davis, indeed, called a good game. Skenes threw 48 fastballs, 15 splinkers, 12 changeups, 12 sweepers, eight sliders and four curveballs. He kept hitters off balance but also stuck to his strongest stuff when the Nationals showed they weren't anywhere close to it.

Skenes drew 45 swings and 10 whiffs with six of the latter coming on the fastball and two more coming on his changeup. 

"I think when people throw as hard as he does, it can be important to make sure they're on the heater and not doing them any favors to really keep them against the splinker," Davis said. "Working towards the end, really wanted to make them earn it, make them earn the off-speed pitches. When you throw 100, better see you're on time for it before we go to something else. I thought he did a great job with that."

The only real trouble that Skenes ran into came in the sixth inning when the Nationals tagged him for two runs, one earned. Nasim Nuñez got ahold of a 96.2 mph fastball low in the zone and doubled to left field before coming around to score on Wood's fielder's choice after Alex Call reached on a rare error by Ke'Bryan Hayes.

Nathaniel Lowe then singled home Wood after he had advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt. Skenes escaped the inning by getting former Pirate Josh Bell to ground out to Adam Frazier.

"I wasn't upset with my execution in the last inning," Skenes said. "Got to go back and watch it — a couple pitches that they got to but that's hitting. They're in the big leagues."

Through his first four starts of this season, Skenes is 2-1 and has produced a 2.96 ERA over 24 1/3 innings while striking out 26 batters and walking just three. He's also ended a four-game losing streak and got the Pirates back into the win column tonight after losing three straight to the Reds.

The early Cy Young candidate has been an effective stopper for his team, but after a win like this, in his home ball park, he's hoping to become more of a starter.

"It was a team win. Made some good plays and obviously a lot of offense and timely hitting," Skenes said. "It's good. Just got to keep it rolling."