PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – To say Pirates ace Paul Skenes desperately needed a win against the Cincinnati Reds Saturday would’ve been an understatement.

Heading into the divisional matchup, the Pirates had somehow found a way to lose each of their past seven games with Skenes starting on the mound. But out of any opponent, the matchup with Cincinnati provided Skenes the best opportunity to finally end that dreadful streak. After all, he’d turned in some of the best outings of his career against Reds batters in past games.

Before Saturday’s start, Skenes held a 5-0 career record against Cincinnati, along with a 0.53 ERA and 35 total strikeouts across six total appearances. The stage was set for him to dominate.

Instead, those numbers took a serious hit in a 6-4 loss to the Reds as Pittsburgh failed to bring home a win with its ace on the mound for the eighth straight game. For perspective, the last time a Pirates starting arm went that long without a team win during a season was Johan Oviedo from June to July 2023.

Skenes’ night on the hill started off relatively calm. Though he allowed a leadoff single in the first inning, he responded by sending down the next three Reds in order. However, his next frame was much more agonizing.

Beginning with a Nathaniel Lowe double, five straight Cincinnati players reached base before Skenes and the Pirates even managed to log the first out of the frame. When the dust finally settled, Skenes sat at a whopping 56 pitches and was staring down a three-run hole.

“I just gotta get back to execution,” Skenes said regarding how he got out of the lengthy inning. “Any pitch can get you out of an inning, any pitch can extend the inning, so you just gotta execute the next one.”

Pirates lose 8th straight Skenes start

“Tough inning there for him to navigate and for them to put up four. I thought he did a really good job after that, settling in and getting through five (innings) and keeping it right there giving us a chance to come back,” said Pirates manager Don Kelly.

Once Skenes stepped off the mound after five innings of work, Pittsburgh’s offense backed him up with three unanswered runs across the fifth and sixth to level the contest. But it wasn’t enough.

Already with a man on base in the top of the eighth, Noelvi Martle laced a 3-2 pitch from Mason Montgomery over the left center field fence to restore Cincinnati’s two-run lead at 6-4. The Bucs never recovered.

“I don’t think we can point to any one thing that stands out and is consistent in all of (the losses). We need to score more than four, not just for Paul, but for all our guys,” Kelly said.

“Gotta remember what’s real,” Skenes said of the streak. “Same thing I’ve been saying for eight starts now.”

Following the loss, Skenes was asked about the moment he struck out Elly De La Cruz to collect his 500th career punchout to close the fourth, becoming the fastest Pirates pitcher to reach the mark through starts. Based on his response, he’s clearly only focused on the big picture.

“Cool,” Skenes said dryly.