pittsburgh pirates pitcher paul skeens admitted to having some nerves When he made his MLB debut last Saturday, he lasted just four innings and was sent down without a decision. chicago cubs.
Playing the Cubs again on Friday was a much different story.
Skeens had a dominant performance against Chicago, striking out the first seven batters he faced en route to his first MLB victory as the Pirates defeated the Cubs by a final score of 9-3. Skeens had strikeouts in the first and second, got Pete Crow-Armstrong out on a grounder to first base in the third, and took the lead with another strikeout before the ball was finally put in play.
Of his first seven strikeouts, Skeens had nine triple-digit hits on the radar gun, including his 101 hit to end the third inning on a fastball to Miles Mastrobuoni.
Skens pitched the sixth inning, his 100th pitch, and had 11 strikeouts for the shutout.
This also exceeded 3 digits.
His 12th pitch of the afternoon hit over 160 mph.
Skeens became the third rookie to have seven strikeouts in a start, joining Jacob deGrom and Jim Deshaise to accomplish that feat. He is also the first rookie to pitch a no-hitter for six innings or more with at least 10 strikeouts since Chris Heston pitched a no-hitter for San Francisco against the New York Mets on June 9, 2015. became.
The Pirates had kept the former No. 1 overall pick under strict restrictions on the number of pitches he pitched, so he was fired after no hits and no runs in the 6th inning, and a bases loaded walk to Michael Busch in the 5th inning, allowing a runner on first base. -count.
Some might argue that manager Derek Shelton should have kept Skeens in the starting seventh inning with the Pirates leading 8-0 and having already thrown 100 pitches in the afternoon. However, the manager made the – probably correct – decision to pull Skeens.
Because if this is what Skeens is going to do in his second MLB start, the Pirates will want to make sure he stays as healthy as humanly possible for as long as possible.
