Pittsburgh Pirates’ top prospect, starting pitcher Paul Skenes, has taken the baseball world by storm to start his career. He has been blowing opponents away with some nasty stuff, routinely touching 100 MPH on the radar gun.
It is fun watching him on the mound. He has multiple plus-plus pitches, that leave hitters in a quagmire at the plate. However, like everyone else, Paul Skenes is going to have an off day. How he responds in those situations will be what determines whether he can reach his star potential.
On Thursday against the San Francisco Giants, it was one of those off nights. After pitching six no-hit innings against the Chicago Cubs in his second career start, while striking out 11, Paul Skenes lost his no-hitter on the first batter of the game.
He would give up another hit in the second inning, but both times the base runner was erased on a double play. In the fourth inning, a walk to Thairo Estrada came back to hurt, as he scored later on.
With *only* four pitches reaching 100 MPH on Thursday, it was an off night by Paul Skenes’s standards. He also recorded only three strikeouts, as the Giants made him work harder than the Cubs did.
Despite that, he still pitched six strong innings, giving up only one run. When he exited the game, the Pittsburgh Pirates were ahead 5-1, in position for his second career win. It was a performance that drew praise from catcher Joey Bart.
“Obviously, it wasn’t his best, you know what I mean?” catcher Joey Bart told reporters after the game, per MLB.com reporter Alex Stumpf. “But if you can go out there and put that kind of performance on without your best stuff, then there’s definitely something to build on.”
The Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen would go on to blow the game, as they lost 7-6. Losing the game certainly hurts, but it was the performance of Paul Skenes that everyone will be talking about.
Finding as much success as he did without blowing away hitters with high strikeout numbers is something good pitchers can do. Through only three major league starts, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 MLB Entry Draft is showcasing he has the skill and mentality to be great.
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