NEW YORK — When the worst start of Paul Skenes’s career finally came to an end on Opening Day, his conversation with Pirates manager Don Kelly was short.
“He said, ‘It’s too early to push it,’” Skenes said. “That was about it.”
There wasn’t much more to say. Everyone here knows the score: The Pirates can employ Skenes, the most electric pitcher in the sport, for four more years, somewhere around 120 more starts. If indeed they intend to be contenders during that stretch, they can’t waste many more.
The Mets did not exactly feast on last season’s National League Cy Young Award winner in Thursday’s 11–7 New York win, although it was not as close as the final score indicates. But Pittsburgh’s ace was not sharp, and center fielder Oneil Cruz was even less so, and they combined to produce a clunker: five runs allowed, two outs recorded. After 37 pitches, and with the top of the order looming, Kelly took the ball from Skenes.
It was, by three innings, the shortest outing of his career. It was, by four pitches, the longest first inning of his career. It was, by three runs, the worst first inning of his career.
And yet: “I’m not as upset about this, for me personally, as people would probably think,” he said. “They did a really good job. It was an abnormal outing.”
That’s certainly the hope. After the Pirates finished last in the sport in runs last year, they spent $50 million in free agency this winter, their largest outlay ever and more than they spent from 2020 through ’23 combined, and they traded for second baseman Brandon Lowe. (He represented one of the bright spots on Thursday: 2-for-4 with two home runs.)
At first, this seemed to be the dawn of a new era. Lowe socked the first pitch he saw over the wall in right field, and the Pirates handed Skenes a two-run lead nine pitches into the game—more run support than he received in 13 of his 32 starts last season. But Skenes mostly stayed away from his breaking pitches, which left him using mainly his four-seamer, sinker and changeup—still not a situation that had the Mets racing to the bat rack, but much less dangerous than his usual seven-pitch mix—and it became clear immediately that he was not at his best.
He started off 3–0 to Francisco Lindor and walked him on seven pitches. Juan Soto fought off a sinker on his hands and dunked it into center; Lindor scampered to third and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Bo Bichette. Jorge Polanco tapped a changeup down the third base line to put runners on first and second. Skenes got Luis Robert to a 1–2 count but could not put him away: a sweeper low and away, foul ball; a four-seamer up, foul ball; a slider that broke over the middle, foul ball; a four-seamer outside, foul ball; a sweeper in the dirt, ball two; a sinker inside, foul ball; a changeup in the dirt, ball three; and finally a slider that broke in the left-handed batter’s box, ball four. Now the bases were loaded and there was still only one out.
Two pitches later, Baty drilled a changeup to the deepest part of the ballpark. Cruz, a converted shortstop beginning his second full season in center field, broke in, then tried desperately to get back far enough. He could only watch as the ball dropped two feet past him. All three men scored. The next pitch was a sinker inside that Marcus Semien popped to center—where Cruz lost it in the sun. It was hard to tell who was having a worse day, the pitcher or the center fielder.
Oneil Cruz with two of the worst center field plays you'll see in a big league game
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 26, 2026
...in the first inning of the first game of the year pic.twitter.com/kaBWNd58a3
Skenes struck out rookie Carson Benge on three pitches, then hit Francisco Alvarez with a sinker, and that was it. His teammates craned their necks as he entered the dugout, as if wondering what he would do. The answer: not much.
“You gotta look at it for what it is,” he said. “There wasn’t a ton of hard contact. The leadoff walk is not great, but some balls landed—the Polanco ground ball, stuff like that. The batting average on balls in play was super high today. That’ll go down as the season goes on.” He laughed.
He has another 119 or so of these with the Pirates, and he had already moved onto the next one.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Paul Skenes Refuses to Dwell On His Worst-Ever Start in 2026 Season Opener.
