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Pittsburgh rookie ace Paul Skenes struck out nine in five scoreless innings while O’Neil Cruz and Nick Yorke homered to lead the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates past the Cincinnati Reds 2-0 on Sunday afternoon.

In tossing five shutout innings without a walk, the hard-throwing rookie right-hander lowered his ERA to 1.99.

Skenes (11-3) is the first pitcher in MLB history to have a sub-2.20 ERA and 150-plus strikeouts in their first 21 games. He also compiled his 16th game with seven-plus strikeouts and enters the final week with 167, a Pittsburgh rookie record.

In winning his three starts this season against Cincinnati, Skenes has allowed just one run in 17 innings, striking out 25 while walking just two.

Colin Holderman, Carmen Mlodzinski and Dennis Santana each threw a scoreless inning before Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless ninth for his 11th save. The 36-year-old lefty has not allowed a run in 10 career innings against his former team.

After getting outscored 15-4 in dropping the first two games, the Pirates (73-83) salvaged the final game to win the season series against the Reds (76-81), 8-5.

After missing six weeks with right elbow soreness, Cincinnati ace Hunter Greene (9-5) made his first start since Aug. 13 in Sunday’s home finale for the Reds.

The Pirates got to Greene in the first as O’Neil Cruz crushed a 2-1 fastball 442 feet between the tall stacks in right-center to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.

Greene, who allowed just one run and two hits over three innings. He struck out four and walked one while throwing 45 pitches. Greene saw his four-game personal win streak snapped and lost for the first time since June 30.

Pittsburgh second baseman Nick Yorke, playing just his sixth Major League game, belted his first Major League homer when he drilled a fastball from reliever Fernando Cruz to the seats in deep left-center for a 2-0 Pittsburgh lead.

–Field Level Media