Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes endured a nightmare first inning, surrendering five runs, in his shortest career start.
The Pittsburgh Pirates spent the offseason strengthening a weak offense. After one game, it appears general manager Ben Cherington made the right moves.
The Pirates were last in the major leagues in runs scored last season, the lack of hitting being the primary reason that ace Paul Skenes finished with a 10-10 record despite leading MLB with a 1.97 ERA over 32 starts.
In Thursday's opener at Citi Field, the reigning National League Cy Young winner had ample run support against the New York Mets. Yet Skenes didn’t get out of the first inning in the worst of the 23-year-old’s 56 starts.
Pittsburgh lost 11-7 despite at Citi Field in New York despite second baseman Brandon Lowe hitting a home run in each of his first two plate appearances with the Pirates. He was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in an offseason trade.
Skenes retired just two of the nine batters he faced and was charged with five runs. He allowed four hits, walked two, hit a batter, and struck out one.
The outing was the shortest of Skenes’ career. Previously, his shortest was a two-inning start on the final day of his rookie season in 2024 against the New York Yankees, but that outing was cut short by design.
Skenes allowed a career-high number of runs. The St. Louis Cardinals also scored five runs in six innings against him on April 8 last year.
"I didn’t execute," Skenes told reporters after the game. "I’d get to two strikes but couldn’t finish with a strikeout or double play. Credit to them—they did a good job, and I didn’t execute."
Oneil Cruz’s unsteady fielding contributed to the big inning.
The Mets led 1-0 on Bo Bichette’s sacrifice fly. With one out and the bases loaded, Brett Baty lined a ball to center field. Cruz broke in but couldn’t recover as it sailed over him for a three-run triple.
Marcus Semien followed with a fly to center that Cruz lost in the sun for a double, making it 5-0. Cruz wasn’t wearing sunglasses.
Two batters later, Skenes was pulled as his pitch count reached 37 after hitting Francisco Alvarez. He understood why manager Don Kelly made the move.
“It’s early in the season, and 37 pitches is a lot of pitches in one inning,” Skenes said. “I felt good, but it was a precautionary measure because the pitch count was going to be super, super high today anyway.”
Skenes smiled when asked if a rough start was inevitable.
“It’s good to get it out of the way,” Skenes said.
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