Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes, as he’s been doing to all opponents since an uncharacteristic Opening Day dud, absolutely dominated the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 1-0 win on Wednesday night. Skenes needed just 97 pitches (65 strikes) to cruise through eight scoreless frames, as he surrendered only two hits while striking out seven. 

Skenes’ stuff was “elite,” according to future Hall of Famer and current Diamondbacks third baseman Nolan Arenado. 

“For him to do that to us, I think it shows you that it was just his day,” Arenado said, via Alex Weiner of AZ Sports. “He throws everything, and they are all elite pitches. He had it today.”

An impressive streak of dominance

Skenes has allowed just 11 earned runs through 42.0 innings so far this season. Five of those were scored off him in his first frame of the campaign by the Mets. 

Since that disaster, Skenes has turned in a sensational 1.31 ERA over seven starts. The reigning NL Cy Young winner has posted an otherworldly 45-5 K/BB ratio across 41.1 innings during this run.   

Through eight total starts this year, Skenes has given up one run or fewer over five-plus innings on five occasions. He has also struck out a half-dozen or more batters five times and has punched out at least five in seven consecutive starts. 

It's tough to argue that any other pitcher in the game is more dominant than Skenes at this juncture. Since the start of the 2025 season, he ranks among the top-four qualifying pitchers in ERA, WHIP, K%, K-BB%, and AVG against. Scarily, he has yet to reach his 24th birthday (May 29).