There was a lot of pressure on [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] to perform well in his first outing. He was completing a life-long dream and playing in front of his home crowd. His anxiety had to be through the roof for that game.
For his second start, Skenes was on the road in Chicago.
He settled in just fine during Game 2 and was the man we all know him to be. Skenes was pulled from the game after pitching six dominant innings and allowed zero hits as he struck out 11 hitters and only walked one. His 100th pitch of the game was a 100-mile-per-hour strikeout to Mike Tauchman to get him out of the inning.
Paul Skenes, 11th K.
100mph on his 100th Pitch. pic.twitter.com/84tpA5huyV
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 17, 2024
.@Paul_Skenes put on a special performance at Wrigley. đź‘€ pic.twitter.com/l6Ef0dAnU0
— MLB (@MLB) May 17, 2024
Paul Skenes is almost certainly done for the day. Here is what happened in his second major league start, facing the Cubs:
6 innings
0 hits
0 runs
1 walk
11 strikeouts
100 pitches
67 strikes
22 swings and missesPittsburgh has a monster. And Jared Jones is right there with him.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 17, 2024
To start the game, he struck out the first six hitters of the game. Before the game, Skenes was asked how he looking forward to the challenge of hitters adjusting to him. His response? Good luck!
"Go ahead and adjust. Good luck." -Paul Skenes on hitters having more film to watch now pic.twitter.com/nzq9wwStBc
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 17, 2024
Between Jared Jones and Paul Skenes the Pittsburgh Pirates have a very solid duo for the future.
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