After his fifth and final spring training outing Saturday afternoon, only a few days stand between Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes and the regular-season opener, which he’s set to start Thursday at Miami.

Skenes delivered 3 1/3 scoreless innings Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles, throwing 51 pitches (33 for strikes) in a 4-0 loss at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla.

Offense was nonexistent for the Pirates, as they were no-hit by seven Baltimore pitchers.

The Orioles broke open a scoreless game in the top of the seventh, going up 3-0 with Peter Strzelecki pitching.

Manager Derek Shelton replaced Skenes with Ryan Borucki in the top of the fourth with the score tied 0-0.

“I thought he was good,” Shelton said during the SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcast. “He was efficient, he threw strikes, he executed all of his pitches — good last appearance for spring training for Paul.”

Skenes finished spring training with a 2-0 record and 2.50 ERA, having struck out 23 with nine walks in 18 innings.

The Pirates play two more spring training games, both on the road, Sunday afternoon at the Toronto Blue Jays before Monday’s 1:05 p.m. finale at the Minnesota Twins.

From there, the club is off Tuesday and Wednesday before beginning the regular season Thursday afternoon at LoanDepot Park in Miami.

Skenes was again sharp Saturday, allowing just a first-inning double to Ryan O’Hearn.

Skenes struck out Colton Cowser on three straight fastballs to begin the game and allowed just one other baserunner, a second-inning walk of Dylan Carlson, before departing with an out in the fourth after striking out Gary Sanchez.

“Good one to end on, for sure,” Skenes said of his outing. “Excited to get to Opening Day and ready for it. Learned a lot this spring. Spring is just different than the regular season, just by nature of hitters’ approaches are different, what I’m trying to accomplish is a little bit different.

“Learned a lot about what to expect from spring going forward, too. Definitely prepared myself for the season.”

Baltimore starter Zach Eflin struck out four in three innings, taking a no-decision.

Following Skenes and Borucki to the mound was lefty Tim Mayza, who pitched a scoreless fifth, allowing one hit, a double to Vimael Machin.

Colin Holderman followed with a scoreless frame before Strzelecki took over in the seventh, allowing three runs on three hits with a strikeout, walk and hit batter.

In the ninth, the Orioles added one more run against Valentin Linarez.

Notes: The Pirates announced that 23-year-old righty Thomas Harrington will start the club’s final spring training game. Harrington replaces veteran Andrew Heaney, who was originally slated to start. This spring, Harrington has impressed, posting a 2.70 ERA through three appearances (one start), striking out five while holding batters to a .130 average over 6 2/3 innings. Harrington being selected to start Monday is an indication he could be in line to crack the Opening Day roster. As the club seeks clarity on Jared Jones’ elbow soreness, Harrington appears to be an option to plug a hole in the starting rotation. Harrington is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Pirates’ No. 3 prospect. … Hunter Stratton made his first appearance of the spring Saturday, a scheduled relief outing that was his first game action since tearing his left knee patella tendon mid-game vs. Cincinnati on Aug. 24, 2024. Stratton, 28, had an ERA of zero through eight relief outings (seven innings) at the time of his season-ending injury last year. In January, he accepted a nonroster invite by the Pirates to spring training. Against Baltimore, Stratton struck out the first man he saw, Vance Honeycutt, before striking out Maverick Handley in a clean frame.

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