Paul Skenes smothers Ohama, striking out seven and allowing the first run at the Triple-A level
Paul Skenes had made five starts and went 14 1/3 scoreless innings to open the 2024 season. On Wednesday afternoon, the Ohama Storm Chasers were the first team to finally erase Skenes 0.00 ERA.
The Pirates’ top prospect came out firing on the mound, smothering the Storm Chasers lineup. Following a leadoff single, Skenes set the next three batters down in order.
In the second frame, third baseman CJ Alexander smoked an 87.5-mph slider to right field for a triple. Nick Eaton singled to left field, scoring Alexander, and in the process, the hard-throwing righty gave up his first earned run of the year.
In the fourth inning, Omaha added an unearned run after Skenes allowed a leadoff base knock to Nick Lofton and then walked the next batter, Nick Pratto, after a six-pitch at-bat. Two batters later, Cam Devanney reached on a comebacker to Skenes, who then committed a throwing error, allowing a run to score.
Skenes threw 71 pitches, his highest pitch count of the year. The flamer-thrower mixed his splitter and slider in with his four-seam heater during the outing. He threw his fast ball 37% of the time, and it maxed out at 100.2 mph.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington has been pleased with Skenes development but is still focused on his top pitching weapon, working on things to be a solid big league pitcher.
"He just keeps getting better," Pirates general manager Ben Cherington told MLB.com's Alex Stumpf prior to the game on Wednesday. "We see the pitch mix coming into form. Working on efficiency when he’s using the secondary and starting to build the pitch count up now.
“Not surprised that he’s having success, but more underneath that just being intentional about what he’s doing. He’s working on things that will allow him to be a good Major League pitcher, and more than just he’s trying to be a good Triple-A pitcher."
Skenes ended the day with an impressive 0.53 ERA, continued to show his dominance with a career high of 12 whiffs, and fired 21 pitches at 99 mph or faster in the outing, per Baseball Savant.
