Oh what could have been: The Pirates taking on the Bronx Bombers at the legendary Yankees Stadium on a rainy Saturday afternoon in the penultimate game of the 2024 regular season.

Picture this:

Pittsburgh, with rookie phenom Paul Skenes on the mound for his final start of a sensational first year, is looking to wrap up a wildcard berth–possibly even a division title. New York is still trying to secure home-field advantage in the American League playoffs and has to trot out its top murderer’s row–including Aaron Judge and his 58 home runs and 144 RBI.

Unfortunately, while everything I just described about the Yankees is true, the stuff about the Buccos is merely fan fiction.

Pittsburgh went into Saturday’s game out of everything except the chance to clinch fourth place in the National League Central Division.

On the hopeful front, the Pirates did win the first game of the three-game series on Friday night. Rookie Jared Jones looked like his pre-injury self, starting and going four-and-a-third innings. He did pack a lot into that non-qualifying start, however, striking out seven Bronx Bombers, while allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks. Bryan Reynolds went yard twice, and Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth to pick up his 13th save of the season.

Back to that penultimate game on Saturday afternoon.

How did Skenes look? He looked like Paul Skenes, which is about as good a compliment as you can pay a rookie athlete in any sport. That means he has already established himself, and when I say, “already,” you can probably trace his ascension to the top of baseball’s pitching mountain back to sometime before the 2024 All-Star Game.

Skenes started that game, faced Judge, forced him to ground out, and exited after one inning. Skenes faced Judge on Saturday, struck him out, and left after two innings. Skenes struck out three batters and set the Yankees down in order before calling it a season.

It was obviously a non-decision for Skenes, who finished his rookie season with an 11-3 record and a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts. Skenes pitched 133 innings in 2024. He struck out 170 batters and walked 32. His WHIP (Walks and hits per innings pitched) was .947. As per ESPN.com, Skenes, who finished 29 innings short of qualifying for the NL ERA title, became the first rookie pitcher to post a sub-2.00 ERA  and at least 23 starts since Scott Perry did it with the Philadelphia Athletics way back in 1918.

You have to give the Pirates some credit for continuing to trot Skenes out to the mound even though they had nothing to play for over the final five or six weeks. Sure, it may have been for selfish reasons–ticket sales–but imagine the public fallout had Skenes suffered an injury that would have compromised his future.

As for the game, the Pirates won by a score of 9-4. Five home runs proved to be the catalyst for the victory, as Yasmani Grandal and Nick Gonzales hit solo shots, while Billy Cook, Jared Triolo and Nick Yorke each smacked two-run blasts.

Six Bucco relievers went the final seven innings. Four of them struck out Judge, who went on to post his first five-strikeout day since 2021. Fellow rookie Mike Burrows came on for Skenes and pitched three-and-a-third to pick up the win in his MLB debut. Chapman recorded the final two outs of the bottom of the ninth inning to earn his 14th save.

The Pirates have officially matched their 2023 win total of 76; they will look to best that number and clinch fourth place in the National League Central when they take on the Yankees in the 2024 regular-season finale on Sunday at 3:05 p.m.