Paul Skenes has made several great starts early in his big career as one of the most hyped young pitchers in baseball.

Nevertheless, on Wednesday, he may have made his best yet for the Pirates.

To open up his outing against the star-studded Dodgers, Skenes, 22, started out strong versus the top of the order, striking out Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts on a combined seven pitches.

Skenes got Betts on four pitches — two of them over 100 mph — before fanning Ohtani on three straight 100-plus mph heaters in an impressive sequence.

After being in attendance for Ohtani’s then-home pitching debut for the Angels in 2018, Skenes got the best of the Japanese superstar six years later in Pittsburgh, according to MLB.

“His stuff that first at-bat was really good,” Ohtani said of Skenes after the Dodgers fell 10-6 to the Pirates at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. “I couldn’t put together good swings, but overall just really good stuff.”

Nevertheless, Ohtani got back at Skenes in the top of the third inning with a home run, knocking in Betts in the process, to pull the Dodgers within five runs.

According to MLB’s Sarah Langs, the 100.1 mph pitch Ohtani homered on was the fastest pitch the slugger has ever hit over the fence in the big leagues.

“I like to call that big on big because I obviously beat him a couple times earlier,” Skenes said. “I think that was the right pitch to throw there, he’s just a pretty darn good player. Stuff like that is going to happen.”

But in the end, Skenes, who allowed three runs in five innings and improved to 3-0, had the last laugh.

Skenes, who threw 91 pitches in the win, debuted on May 11 against the Cubs after dominating in the minor leagues, where he held an 0.99 ERA with 45 strikeouts across 27 1/3 innings on the Pirates’ Triple-A squad in Indianapolis.

Wednesday marked Skenes’ fifth start in the majors, and after five innings against Los Angeles, his ERA sat at 3.00 with 38 strikeouts in 27 innings.

— with AP