PITTSBURGH — Max Meyer struck out a season-high-tying nine batters and allowed just one run across six innings as the Miami Marlins topped the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park, improving to 7-0 on the season and pushing Miami to 10-2 in June.

The 27-year-old right-hander, who underwent Tommy John surgery after his elbow gave out at PNC Park three years ago, lowered his ERA to 2.75 and became the only pitcher in Marlins history to avoid a loss through 15 starts to begin a season — the longest such streak in the Majors since the Dodgers’ Tony Gonsolin went 17 games without a loss from April 9-July 13, 2022.

“It’s kind of cool to be back on the mound, remember stuff. I remember walking down the tunnel, throwing my glove after my elbow exploded. It was cool being able to go out and think about how far I’ve come,” Meyer said.

Meyer surrendered six hits — all singles — and three walks, recording his fifth quality start of 2026. Entering the game, he was tied for 11th among NL pitchers in fWAR at 1.8 and ranked fourth among qualified NL pitchers with a .196 average against, slightly ahead of Skenes at .197. He has already surpassed his career win total of six from 2022-25, as well as single-season marks for starts (15) and innings (85).

“It’s never me versus the pitchers, it’s me versus the hitters, so all that stuff is for you guys,” Meyer said, downplaying the matchup with Skenes. “That was a good lineup. I thought they had a decent approach. My stuff just felt really good today.”

Miami’s offense did just enough against Skenes, slugging a pair of solo home runs in the second inning. Heriberto Hernández drilled an inside four-seamer to left-center for his sixth home run of the season and fourth of the month. Catcher Joe Mack followed two outs later with his second career homer, depositing a changeup to straightaway center.

Outfielder Jakob Marsee preserved Meyer’s lead with a diving catch in the right-center gap in the fifth, robbing Jake Mangum of extra bases with the bases loaded and two outs. “It was really cool to come through right there,” Marsee said. “He was kind of getting unlucky a little bit with some of the hits he was giving up and everything. He’s just been dominant up there all year.”

Mack, who since his Major League debut May 4 leads all MLB catchers with 11 caught stealings, helped Meyer close his outing with a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out double play in the sixth. “His sweeper was really good today, slider was very good today, and made good pitches when he needed to,” Mack said. “As much as I can do that, I want to do that every single time.”

The Marlins tacked on insurance runs in the eighth against righty Brandan Bidois on RBI hits from Kyle Stowers and Xavier Edwards. Manager Clayton McCullough praised Meyer’s ability to match Pittsburgh’s ace pitch for pitch.

“A couple All-Stars potentially going at it today,” McCullough said. “You go into it facing someone that’s as tough as Paul Skenes is, [knowing] that runs are going to be at a premium, and it was nice for us to get a couple early. … It’s showing that [Meyer] can go up against anyone, and in a game where it’s probably going to be low scoring, [that he’s going] to be able to go match zeros against a premium arm.”

Miami (36-36) secured its fourth consecutive series win and returned to .500 heading into the series finale against Pittsburgh.