It is hard to find any flaws in Paul Skenes. The Pirates’ sophomore right-hander leads the majors with a 1.98 ERA. After winning the National League Rookie of the Year last season, he is regarded as the leading contender for this season's NL Cy Young Award. Skenes was selected as an All-Star in each of his two MLB seasons.

However, the only shortcoming for Skenes—if you can call it that—was that his win-loss record never surpassed .500 all season. That finally changed today.

“They can’t say that about me anymore,” Skenes said with a sly smile.

Skenes pitched six scoreless innings to improve his record to 10-9, helping the Pirates defeat the Dodgers 5-3 at home and complete a sweep of the National League West leaders in the three-game series.

Skenes has solidified his already strong edge in the Cy Young Award race. Only two Pirates players have ever won the Cy Young: Vernon Law in 1960 and Doug Drabek in 1990.

Pirates manager Don Kelly is eager to support Skenes’ candidacy.

“Obviously, for this guy, the way he works, competes, the pitching arsenal he has, and how he handles things, we all want him to win this award,” Kelly said. “Hopefully, it’s this year. Whether it is or not, he’s a pitcher worthy of the Cy Young. If he wins it, it means a lot to Paul and the whole team.”

“Knowing Paul and how he approaches things, the most impressive part is that he’s not doing this for the award. He’s doing it because he wants to be excellent. He wants to be a great player. He wants to go out there and help the Pittsburgh Pirates win games.”

Before the game, the Dodgers ranked third in MLB scoring, averaging 5.09 runs per game. Yet, Skenes allowed only two hits and struck out eight batters—including two strikeouts against NL MVP favorite Shohei Ohtani—with just one walk issued.

“There’s a reason MLB is called the ‘big show,’” Skenes said when discussing the challenge of facing a team like the Dodgers. “That’s what you enjoy. Facing arguably the best team at home and aiming for a sweep, those are cool opportunities. You can’t take them for granted.”

Skenes does not take his status as a Cy Young favorite for granted either.

“At the end of the day, you have to pitch well,” Skenes said. “You can pitch well and still give up runs, or pitch poorly and not allow runs. I have four or five starts left. I don’t want to have any regrets going into the offseason. That was my mindset last year too. Wherever I end up, I’ll accept it, but I don’t want to have any regrets.”

The Pirates scored five runs off two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell within five innings, helping them hold off the Dodgers’ late rally. Tommy Pham opened the scoring in the third with an RBI single. The Pirates then put up a four-run inning in the fifth to extend their lead to 5-0, including a two-run double from Nick Yorke.

The Dodgers scored three runs in the ninth to narrow the gap to two runs, but Colin Holderman secured the final two outs for his first save since 2023. Holderman has a 7.89 ERA in 20 appearances this season.

The Pirates have won 12 of their last 16 games and hold a 52-51 record since Don Kelly replaced Derek Shelton as manager on May 8. Before the coaching change, the Pirates were 12-26.

“We’re playing well,” Skenes said. “I don’t know where the confidence comes from, whether it’s individual or team confidence. I think, to some extent, it comes from success. So, I think we’ve proven to ourselves that we can do it, and that gives us confidence.”