PITTSBURGH -- Paul Skenes didn’t have the cleanest start on Thursday night.

Yet the Pirates' ace right-hander was able to pitch six scoreless innings to lead his team to a 7-0 victory over the Reds in the opener of a four-game series at PNC Park.

The Reds got seven hits off Skenes, the most he has allowed in 47 career starts. Yet the Reds were hitless in five at-bats with runners in scoring position against Skenes, left six runners on base in the first six innings and never got a runner to third base.

Skenes was coming off a road loss against the Rockies in which he gave up four runs in five innings last Saturday. However, he lowered his MLB-leading ERA from 2.02 to 1.94 on Thursday and ran his scoreless innings streak against the Reds to 22.

Cam Sanders, Ryan Borucki and Kyle Nico

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