PITTSBURGH – It rained heavily in the Steel City for most of Saturday. First it rains, then walks and runs, then it rains again.
But for Paul Skenes, and Paul Skenes alone, the sun shone in Pittsburgh.
Skenes, the best pitcher in the world, was both dominant and rusty in his long-awaited major league debut. His flashes of brilliance electrified an impatient crowd at PNC Park. His premature departure angered him. The bottom line — four innings, three runs — doesn’t tell the whole story. Skenes, in a strict field limit, was very good. His fellow Pittsburgh pitchers did not.
Immediately following Skenes’ exit in the fifth, a trio of Pirates relievers implausibly turned a 6-1 lead into an 8-6 deficit before escaping the inning. They surrendered six bases-loaded walks. Baseball never left the infield. In the middle of that endless and historically embarrassing scenario: a delay of 2 hours and 20 minutes due to rain. It all added up to an unforgettably bizarre day and night of baseball, one in which the Pirates ended up winning 10-9, 5 hours and 16 minutes after it started.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it,” exhaled drenched Pirates captain Derek Shelton after the final.
Before all the chaos, a steady spring rain threatened to dampen the proceedings. For most of Saturday morning, before the most hyped Pirates game in years, Pittsburgh was soaked. Until two hours before first pitch, raindrops were hitting the huge tarp protecting the dirt on the PNC Park infield. Even Mother Nature, it seemed, wanted to keep the pirate faithful away from anything resembling optimism.
But 90 minutes before kickoff, the rain stopped. Members of the Pirates field crew rushed to remove the tarp and prepare the field. Pittsburgh’s picturesque skyline, beautifully nestled behind the outer fence, revealed itself. Fans rushed to the courtyard. Upbeat pop blared from the stadium speakers. Paul Skenes’ MLB debut went as planned.
At exactly 3:22 pm ET, a warm ray of sunlight ripped through the gray canvas of the Allegheny cloud. Moments later, like a scene from a cheesy Hallmark movie, Skenes emerged from the Pirates dugout shining and resplendent in his crisp white uniform. On the right hand, a black glove with gold details. To his left, a bag of gadgets and heavy balls for warming up. Flanked by a procession of cameras, the 6-foot-2, 250-pound pitcher walked across the outfield grass toward the home bullpen and into the light.
Another storm formed on the horizon, one that would ultimately disrupt the day, but the crowd had no way of predicting the future. They roared with satisfaction; they have waited long enough.
Skenes’ arrival was capped with a level of irresponsible and understandable enthusiasm. 21-year-olds with generational talent are still 21. Picked first overall in the 2023 MLB Draft, the right-hander has risen through the minor leagues faster than any No. 1 pick in more than 30 years. Built like an elk, driven by the tenacity of a pit bull and armed with a triple-digit fastball, Skenes eviscerated hitters in 27 2/3 innings for Triple-A Indianapolis. Fans and prognosticators longed for a call-up. And with each game in the minor leagues, the calls grew louder.
Eventually, the Pirates, buoyed by the excellence of Skenes’ numbers in the minor leagues, relented. The team announced Wednesday that its golden son would be promoted to make his big league debut Saturday against Chicago.
Considering the circumstances, Skenes performed well. He punched out the first two hitters he faced and walked the third, Cody Bellinger, to 0-2 before walking him. A deep ball from Christopher Morel closed the frame. Over the course of his four innings, the Cubs struck out seven times against Skenes, striking out 14 in 40 at-bats. The spotty fastball command left Skenes behind in some respects, but his 95 mph “splinker” helped him escape largely unscathed.
In the fourth, Nico Hoerner threw a middle slider into the left field stands on a solo shot, which appeared to be the only blemish on Skenes’ record after he punched out Yan Gomes to end the frame. Then all hell broke loose.
Skenes allowed two hits to start the fifth. Buccos captain Derek Shelton took a slow march, to a storm of boos, to remove his phenom from the game. In came Kyle Nicolas, who recorded two quick outs before striking out Ian Happ to load the bases. Nicolas then threw 12 straight balls, walking in three Cub runs – two of which were charged to Skenes – before Shelton pulled him. In came Josh Fleming and two other Cubs, one on another walk and the next on an infield dribbler to tie the game.
And it was then that the heavens opened. Torrential rain interrupted the game, sending the muddy Pirates clubhouse back to the locker room. Skenes, who remained on the bench to watch the end of the inning, alone climbed the flight of stairs leading to the PNC Park tunnel and went down to the clubhouse, in one hand a black glove with gold details, in the other those small bags of bric-a-brac before the game. His debut came and went.
After the rain delay, the Pirates would somehow end up winning the game despite allowing two more runs in the top of that eternal fifth inning that Skenes started. In the bottom half of the frame, catcher Yasmani Grandal powered in a three-run homer to give Pittsburgh a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
None of this seemed to faze the comically dull Skenes, who nonchalantly proclaimed in his post-game interview that he was simply “happy we got a win.”
And that’s what happens with Skenes, as cliché as it sounds: he’s here to win.
Those who have known him since his days at the Air Force Academy speak of his intense drive and determination to succeed. In his only season at LSU, he started 19 games and missed just one. Several times during interviews, Skenes prioritized “winning a World Series” over any personal accomplishment. This is a serious person, who is not content with mediocrity.
But the Big Moose cannot single-handedly lead Pittsburgh to sustained competence, let alone contention. Fellow rookie Jared Jones has shined so far this season, and the Pirates are still 6.5 games out of first place in the NL Central with a minus-26 run differential.
Fans remain skeptical of Ben Cherington’s regime, citing a lack of obvious progress in the standings. But the culture of losing goes back much further than his tenure. Only the Royals, who won a title in 2015, have lost more games this century than Pittsburgh, and the Pirates are the only team without a League Championship Series appearance in the wild-card era (1994). This year’s 9-2 start evaporated in the blink of an eye as the offense went cold.
All of this means that even if Skenes lives up to the hype, the Pirates face an uphill climb back to October. And so, the future in Pittsburgh is both bright and cloudy. There are reasons to expect sun and rain. Saturday had both, just because Paul Skenes moved the clouds.
It won’t be the last time.
