PITTSBURGH — Paul Skenes slowly sauntered back to the Pittsburgh Pirates dugout at the end of the top of the eighth inning on Tuesday night, his loping and deliberate strides giving the PNC Park crowd plenty of time to rise for the kind of standing ovation that’s becoming commonplace at the end of his starts.The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner tipped his cap, then disappeared from view for a quick debrief with Pirates manager Don Kelly.Sure, the competitor in Skenes wanted the opportunity to go back out for the ninth in search for the first complete game victory of his big league career. The remarkably mature 23-year-old who is constantly trying to keep things in perspective knew better. His first pitch of the eighth, a fastball, hit just 93.7 mph, pedestrian by his standards. So Skenes told Kelly he was done after 98 pitches and eight innings of two-hit brilliance and the chance for that elusive shutout had to wait. Skenes quietly gave way to Gregory Soto, who got the final three outs of a 3-1 win over Colorado that pushed Skenes’ record to 6-2 and whittled his ERA to 1.98.“It’s a long season,” Skenes said. “That was start nine out of 32, 33 and then hopefully eight or nine more after that. So, just got to see the big picture.”One that seems to be growing ever brighter for Skenes. Two years and a day after his electric major league …
