Willi Castro’s move amid Paul Skenes’ scorching start vs Rockies has Pirates fans furious

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Christopher Hennessy, ClutchPoints

Wed, May 13, 2026 at 12:43 AM UTC ·

2 min read

Willi Castro’s move amid Paul Skenes’ scorching start vs Rockies has Pirates fans furious appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Colorado Rockies opened a series on Tuesday with Paul Skenes on the hill. Even though Colorado is playing better ball this year , it was a man against boys for the defending NL Cy Young winner. Skenes struck out the first six batters he faced, which made this move from Rockies infielder, Willi Castro , an unpopular one .

Skenes struck out the first six batters he faced until Castro laid down a bunt on the first pitch of the third inning. The Pirates’ ace fielded the bunt perfectly and flipped it to first base for the seventh out of the game. He proceeded to sit down 12 more Rockies in a row, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning until Mickey Moniak broke it up.

The Pirates got a similar start from Skenes his last time out against the Arizona Diamondbacks . He sat down the first 14 batters he faced, allowed two singles, and then retired the final 10 batters he faced. So through seven innings on Tuesday, Skenes had faced 48 batters and retired 45 of them, not allowing a single walk.

Skenes was knocked out of his Opening Day start against the New York Mets, allowing five runs in 0.2 innings. In the seven starts between then and the Diamondbacks’ start, he posted a 1.31 ERA in 44.1 innings. That includes taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 24. And that number will improve once his Rockies start is in the books.

Skenes won last year’s NL Cy Young and came into this year as the favorite. Shohei Ohtani came out of April as the pitcher of the month, but the Pirates’ superstar has put his claim on May’s trophy already. Can these two faces of the game duke it out for the Cy Young down the stretch?