After surpassing 200 strikeouts for the first time in his career, Pirates ace Paul Skenes admitted it was good to get a breather. The NL Cy Young front-runner reached 203, fanning eight Orioles batters in Pittsburgh’s 2-1, 10-inning loss to Baltimore on Wednesday night. It might’ve been more had manager Don Kelly not removed the overpowering right-hander after a season-low 64 pitches with an eye toward managing his workload at the back end of his first full season in the majors. Skenes worked five scoreless, two-hit frames in his 30th outing. He as a majors-best 1.92 ERA over 178 innings after combining for 160 1/3 last season between the Pirates and Triple-A Indianapolis.