NEW YORK — It may have been the shortest start of his young career, but Paul Skenes put the finishing touches on a splendid rookie season.

The Pittsburgh Pirates rookie right-hander struck out three Yankees hitters, including superstars Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, in two scoreless innings on a blustery Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

Skenes departed with the Pirates holding a 1-0 lead thanks to a solo home run by Yasmani Grandal in the second inning.

Since Skenes seemingly hit his intended workload this season of 160 1/3 combined innings, the Pirates pulled Skenes on a high note, as he struck out Jazz Chisholm looking to end the bottom of the second, completing the outing on just 23 pitches.

Skenes, 22, lowered his ERA to 1.96 with his pair of scoreless frames. Skenes became the fourth pitcher in MLB history to finish a season with a sub-2.00 ERA while averaging 11 or more strikeouts per nine innings, According to StatsPerform.

In 133 innings, Skenes had 170 strikeouts against just 32 walks.

Prior to Saturday, Skenes' shortest MLB start was his May 11 debut against the Cubs in which he yielded three earned runs across four innings.

With his final start of the year, Skenes finishes the 2024 campaign with those combined 160 1/3 innings, including the seven starts he made for Triple-A Indianapolis.

Now all eyes turn to whether Skenes' stupendous season will be enough for him to take home the National League's Rookie of the Year award, or whether that honor go to the likes of the Padres' Jackson Merrill or Brewers' Jackson Chourio.

Either way, Skenes wrapped up his first MLB season in style, and demonstrated his dominance all year long.

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