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Pirates’ Paul Skenes Reaches New Low on Opening Day
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- Pirates’ Paul Skenes Reaches New Low on Opening Day
Coming off of a unanimous Cy Young season and a dominant 1.08 ERA in the World Baseball Classic for Team USA, 23-year-old right-hander Paul Skenes was the obvious pick to start on opening day for the Pittsburgh Pirates . But it was a disastrous first start of the season for the ace, as he failed to make it out of the first inning after giving up five earned runs to the New York Mets .
Skenes had given up five runs in a start just one time before, and his previous career low for innings pitched in a start was two (and that was his final start of the 2024 season, so the Pirates were simply being cautious with his arm. Skenes allowed no runs in the start.)
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Which make it all the more improbable that on Thursday, Skenes came out of the game after just 37 pitches, making it the worst and shortest start of his career (h/t Jorge Castillo, ESPN).
Skenes' ascension to dominance has been so rapid that it's easy to forget that he's human: in 320 and 2/3 career major league innings, Skenes has a 1.96 ERA and 386 strikeouts.
But the two-time All-Star game starter looked very human on Thursday, recording just five swing-and-misses (h/t Baseball Savant) against the Mets lineup (with three of those coming from rookie outfielder Carson Benge in his major league debut).
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That said, it would be disingenuous to act like the poor start was entirely on Skenes. Center fielder Oneil Cruz , who is still relatively new to the position after moving there in 2025, made two massive mistakes that were directly responsible for four of Skenes' five runs allowed.
The first came with the bases loaded, when Cruz misjudged a line drive off the bat of Brett Baty and watched it sail over his head, clearing the bases.
The second mistake came on the very next at bat, when Cruz lost a pop fly off the bat of Marcus Semien in the sun and let it drop, allowing Baty to score from third.
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From there, Skenes struck out Benge on three fastballs and hit Francisco Alvarez with a sinker, which brought out manager Don Kelly to end his starter's day. Neither of Cruz's flubs were charged as an error, so all five runs will be charged against Skenes, resulting in a 67.50 ERA to start the season.
Cruz aside, Skenes still didn't look like his usual self on Thursday. He was unable to put Francisco Lindor and Luis Robert Jr away, walking them both after lengthy at bats, and the HBP on Alvarez was out of character as well. It was just the thirteenth HBP allowed by Skenes in his career.
Coming off of a taxing World Baseball Classic and facing a hungry, new-look Mets lineup, it was always going to be a difficult matchup for Skenes. There's no immediate need to sound the alarm, but if he continues to struggle with getting swing-and-misses that may be worth keeping an eye on.
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This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Mar 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the MLB section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
