PHOENIX — Paul Skenes has one complete game in his major league career. That day, May 18, 2025, was Skenes at his best. But his sheer brilliance — nine strikeouts and four total baserunners — came in eight innings of a 1-0 Pirates loss.

Naturally, Skenes doesn’t count it.

Wednesday in Phoenix seemed an opportunity for a real one. Skenes dominated the Arizona Diamondbacks, not allowing a baserunner until the fifth and not allowing any more after two singles. He was particularly efficient, throwing 43 pitches to complete four innings and 68 through six.

He finished the eighth on 97 pitches. He’d struck out the side in the frame. His Pirates clung to a 1-0 lead.

Then Don Kelly sent Gregory Soto out for the ninth. Soto finished off a 1-0 Pirates win. Skenes’ wait for a real complete game lives on.

“Just looked like, in the eighth inning, his command wasn’t as good,” Kelly explained. “Velo ticked down a hair and fell. He was getting ahead so much early. And then in that last inning, it just didn’t look like the command was as sharp. Good spot to bring Soto in.”

Skenes said he wasn’t fussed.

“When I came out, I didn’t know what the pitch count was,” he said. “I had a lot of confidence in Soto to finish it.”

Kelly’s decision, it must be noted, worked. Soto did his job. And the reasoning was accurate — Skenes threw 17 pitches in the eighth, more than any other inning. He got into three three-ball counts all night, with two coming in that frame. And his sinker, which averaged between 97 and 98 mph for much of the game, dipped to 95.5 mph.

Kelly deserves credit for a tough decision that worked out. But Wednesday simply felt like a chance for Skenes to achieve something new.

“He was unbelievable,” Kelly said. “Getting ahead in counts, the elite stuff, being able to put guys away. Low pitch count, very efficient. He was unreal.”

Skenes’ final line: eight innings pitched, two hits, no walks, no runs, seven strikeouts.

With a line like that, of course he wanted the ninth.

“I mean, always,” Skenes said. “But I knew we were gonna win, so I wasn’t really broken up about it.”

Why not?

Sure, Soto’s been dominant (a 1.50 ERA) and had a string of good matchups, and it is early enough in the season, but Skenes deserved a complete game. Yet the ace himself didn’t feel that way.

“Just got to keep your ego out of it,” Skenes said. “That’s it. Just got to keep your ego out of it. I mean, everybody’s confident, or thinks they’re confident when they go out there. But when you start thinking about ego, that’s when you get into trouble a lot of the time.”

He then explained his reasoning. The Pirates have bigger goals than winning Wednesday, though that still was crucial. Aiming for a personal goal isn’t as important as the team goals, Skenes said.

“It’s the eighth start of the year,” Skenes said. “Knew we were gonna win. The goal is to pitch deep into October this year, so. I think throwing one extra inning and being able to pat myself on the back for a C.G. is a lot less important than all that other stuff.”

Still, that doesn’t mean his teammates weren’t rooting for him to get that so-far elusive complete game.

“I want it, too,” Henry Davis said. “That would be great, but it’s still early. Save the 120-pitch count or 130-pitch count for down the road, later in the season.”

Even the man who replaced him was hoping Skenes would finish the job.

“Bro, unbelievable,” Soto said. “We were pushing for him to complete the game, but he got a little short with the pitch [count] and stuff. We were pushing for him to go as long as he can, because I know he deserves that. He worked hard for that, and I was ready for whenever they called me. And that happened.”

Skenes pitched a gem, one the Pirates needed after a lackluster 9-0 loss to Arizona on Tuesday. It was key for Skenes, too, as he allowed five runs in five innings in a loss in his last start.

Brandon Lowe, who scored the game’s only run with a solo homer in the first, wasn’t surprised at all by Skenes’ rebound. In fact, he’d predicted it after that outing, saying “I have no doubt that next time Paul toes that rubber, he’s going to come out with his best stuff.”

After Wednesday, those words seemed prophetic.

“I’m not usually wrong,” Lowe said with a grin. “I’m kidding. … It speaks volumes to who he is as a competitor and a pitcher. He’s going to go out there and it wasn’t going to be like that this time around.”

Instead, it felt like Milwaukee, the prior start where Skenes took a perfect game bid into the seventh. Even if Wednesday’s bid was dashed in the fifth, it had those in attendance wondering about history.

“That’s kind of the pitcher you want to play behind quite often,” Lowe said. “I’m not going to go out there and tell him he’s got to throw no-hitters every time he’s out there, but it’s a lot of fun to be behind when he’s rolling like he was tonight.”

It seems inevitable that at some point, the 23-year-old Skenes will put it all together in the form of a no-hitter. That elusive complete game seems guaranteed.

It may not have happened Wednesday, but it’s coming. Skenes feels it, too.

“I wasn’t worrying about it too much,” he said. “Hopefully, this year.”