Paul Skenes has already become one of the best pitchers in baseball at just 22 years old.

Not only is he a sure fire favorite for the NL Rookie of the Year Award, but he’s also already a Cy Young favorite. And on Tuesday night against the Cardinals, he continued his dominance.

Except something that never happened before had occurred…

Skenes lost.

But before we delve into that, let’s continue about Skenes.

In striking out St. Louis’ Lars Nootbar in the eighth, Skenes made it nine consecutive games in which he has recorded seven or more strikeouts, which is a franchise record. It is the longest such streak by a pitcher in MLB this season.

Skenes’ sole blemish came in the fifth inning, Nolan Arenado turning on a hanging curveball for a solo shot. Otherwise, Skenes was effective and dominant

When Skenes needed to, he produced punch outs, too. After Arenado’s homer, Skenes struck out the next three St. Louis hitters in order as part of a eight strikeout evening for the rookie.

Not to be outdone, however, Lance Lynn had a very effective night of his own for the Cardinals, as the 37-year old hit the historic 2000-career strikeout mark. There were two occasions when the Pirates had a great chance to capitalize though, loading the bases in the second and the fifth innings.

However, Lynn battled back, as Andrew McCutchen flew out to shallow center in the former situation, while Nick Gonzales tapped a groundout to the infield in the latter.