Despite the Pittsburgh Pirates being out of the playoffs and having nothing but pride to play for on Wednesday night, they still were able to overcome the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 in extra innings, and Paul Skenes helped set the table for that victory. 

Going into the game, Skenes had the chance to finish the season with an ERA of under 2, and if he was able to achieve it, he would become the first Pirate in the history of the live ball era to do so. Prior to his start, Skenes's ERA sat at 2.03, and if he was able to throw 3-and-a-half scoreless innings, his ERA would fall to under 2. 

Skenes was able to do that, and more. 

He would go on to toss six scoreless innings, striking out seven batters. 

However, for the sophomore pitcher, making that history wasn't on his mind; winning was. 

"Having a sub-2 is great, but I don't think it's necessarily a winning mentality to come out after four innings," he said after the game. "I didn't think about it. I didn't know what my ERA was during the game. I wasn't checking, just [worried] about winning." 

While he might not have been worried about making history, he did have a little bit of fun at his own expense, acknowledging that he had a lower ERA after his rookie season, which was 1.96 - saying, "I got a hundredth worse than last year." 

Skenes sets strikeout record in final start

The sub-2 ERA wasn't the only history Skenes would make on Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park. 

Skenes had 209 strikeouts going into the game, and putting seven batters to bed gave him 216 strikeouts on the season, surpassing Mitch Keller's franchise record of 210 for a right-handed pitcher. 

Again, despite making history, Skenes reaffirmed that none of that was on his mind. 

"I wanted to savor it knowing this was my last outing of the year," he said. "I won't be doing that again for six months or so...the past few days have been pretty tough for me knowing that." 

The Pirates will look for a sweep of the Reds this afternoon at 12:40 p.m., and then they will close out the 2025 season with a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves.