Paul Skenes finishes 2025 season with sub-2.00 ERA

CINCINNATI — Paul Skenes entered Great American Ball Park on Wednesday with a chance at history. No Pirate in the Live Ball Era had ever pitched enough innings to qualify for the ERA title and finished with a sub-2.00 ERA, and he was on the precipice, coming into the game at a 2.03 clip.

Skenes admitted once the game was done that he didnâ€t know what he needed to do to have his season ERA start with a 1. You could break out the calculators to figure it out, or just subscribe to Henry Davis†mentality.

“Donâ€t let guys score,†Davis said. “Pretty good recipe for a low ERA.â€

The math going into the game was that if Skenes threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings, heâ€d have a sub-2.00 ERA. If he allowed a run, heâ€d need to throw eight innings, which just wasnâ€t feasible this late in the season.

Skenes had history in hand after Gavin Lux grounded out to second base to lead off the fourth. Rather than call it a day, Skenes ended up going six scoreless frames, striking out seven. Mix in three RBIs from Spencer Horwitz and some late heroics by Yohan Ramírez to get the final four outs, and the Pirates beat the Reds, 4-3, in 11 innings.

And for Skenes, his final ERA was 1.97. As he would point out afterward, though, he had a 1.96 ERA as a rookie last season.

“Yeah, I got a hundredth worse than last year,†Skenes said. “I’m actually worse than I was last year. I’m just kidding. It’s cool. I don’t come into the year with any numerical goals or anything like that, any stat goals, but it’s a product of doing what you’re supposed to do.â€

On a day when Skenes and the Pirates had nothing to play for but history for their pitcher and pride, Skenes risked the former for the latter.

“We needed me to have a good start today,†Skenes said. “Obviously, the guy who was on the mound for the other team [Hunter Greene], it was going to be a battle. Knew that going in. So it’s just winning.

“Having a sub-2 [ERA] is great, but it’s not … I don’t know. I don’t think it’s necessarily a winning mentality to come out after four [innings]. I didn’t think about it. I didn’t know what my ERA was during the game. I wasn’t checking anything like that. Just about winning.â€

Skenes was not credited with a win, but pitching an extra two innings to save the bullpen was likely the difference in an extra-inning game. It also cemented how incredible his sophomore campaign was.

That performance lowered his season ERA to 1.97, the first sub-2.00 ERA for a starting pitcher since Justin Verlander’s 1.75 ERA with the Astros in 2022. Skenes also became just the fourth pitcher in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) to record an ERA that low in his age-23 season or younger, joining Dwight Gooden (1985 at age 20), Vida Blue (1971, age 21) and Dean Chance (1964, age 23).

He also set a new franchise record for most strikeouts for a right-handed pitcher, now sitting at 216 after breaking Mitch Kellerâ€s record of 210.

Thereâ€s a case to be made that Skenes might have had the best season for a Pirates pitcher in the Live Ball Era, or any era for that matter. The ERA reflects that, but itâ€s not a surprise to his teammates.

“Not surprising, knowing what heâ€s going to do, day in and day out,†Davis said. “Takes what he takes and gives 100% of everything he can give to this game.â€

“Heâ€s the best in the world,†Horwitz said. “Iâ€ve said that time and time again, and he doesnâ€t disappoint.â€

Wednesday was Skenes†last game of the season, but as he approached it, he wasnâ€t thinking of where the first digit of his ERA would land. It was that this was it for 2025.

“I wanted to savor it knowing this was my last outing of the year,†Skenes said. “I won’t be doing that again for six months or so. It’s kind of a tough realization. The past few days have been pretty tough for me, knowing that. Nice to have it over with. Wish I could keep pitching, just for the joy of pitching. The sub-2 is a nice little byproduct of it, I guess.”

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