Paul Skenes made a stunning exit on Opening Day, as the Pittsburgh Pirates ace and National League Cy Young Award winner got an early hook after allowing five runs with two outs in the first inning.
The New York Mets scored five runs while batting around the order before the Pirates pulled the plug on Skenes after he gave up four hits, two walks and one hit batsman.
It was the shortest outing of Skenes’ career, one that came after the Pirates provided a two-run cushion. While the 23-year-old right-hander wasn’t sharp, his outing was marred by mishaps in center field by Oneil Cruz that caused his pitch count to reach 37.
The Mets continued to pound the Pirates on their way to an 11-7 win in the season opener Thursday afternoon before 41,449 at Citi Field. The Mets fell one run short of their record for runs scored on Opening Day, which is 12 against the Chicago Cubs in 1994 at Wrigley Field.
“You know Paul, he’s a competitor. He wants to stay out there and pitch. It’s a really tough thing, going to get him in the first inning,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “At the bottom of it is Paul’s health. You’re getting close to 40 pitches. He had 37 pitches, and (Francisco) Lindor had a seven-pitch at-bat that first at-bat. If he runs it seven to 10, you’re into dangerous territory with a starting pitcher in one inning. We just had to make the move.”
It was the first time that Skenes didn’t complete the first inning and marked only the second time in 56 career starts that Skenes allowed five earned runs, with the other coming in a 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on April 8, 2025. After leading the majors with a 1.97 ERA last season, Skenes now owns a bloated 67.50 ERA.
Asked if he was surprised by the quick hook, Skenes gave a yes-no answer. He blamed his inability to get outs with two strikes and the bad luck on balls that dropped into play for the elongated inning.
“Yes, because I think I would’ve gotten out of the inning. No, because it’s early in the season and a 37-pitch inning …,” Skenes said. “I felt good, but being precautionary the pitch count wasn’t going to be super, super high today.”
Skenes’ struggles overshadowed strong debuts by new acquisitions Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn, who both went 2 for 4 and combined for three home runs as the Pirates accounted for extra bases on six of their 10 hits.
The Pirates took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Cruz worked a full count before shortening his swing for a leadoff bloop single to center field to set the table for Lowe to make a strong first impression. When Freddy Peralta left a first-pitch curveball over the middle of the plate, Lowe connected and watched the ball carry over the outstretched arm of Mets right fielder Carson Benge to clear the fence for a two-run home run.
Peralta recovered to strike out Bryan Reynolds and Marcell Ozuna on three pitches apiece then got Ryan O’Hearn looking at a called third strike. Peralta had seven strikeouts without a walk and allowed four runs on six hits on 80 pitches over five innings.
Pirates pitchers, by contrast, walked nine Mets batters, topping their single-game high of eight from 2025.
Skenes received just 3.4 runs per game in support last season, so getting an early two-run cushion should have been a recipe for success. Instead, it was the prelude to a disaster.
Skenes, who starred for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, gave up a full-count walk to Lindor to lead off the bottom of the first. Lindor advanced to third on Juan Soto’s single to center and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Bo Bichette to cut it to 2-1.
It went downhill from there.
After Jorge Polanco reached on a dribbler down the third-base line and Luis Robert drew a 10-pitch walk, Skenes still could have escaped with minimal damage, if not for a pair of mishaps by Cruz in center field.
The first was a routine fly ball to center by Brett Baty that Cruz misread. It sailed over Cruz’s head for a bases-clearing triple to give the Mets a 4-2 lead. Another gaffe occurred when Marcus Semien hit a fly ball that Cruz — who wasn’t wearing sunglasses — lost in the sun and allowed to drop behind him for a double to score Baty for a 5-2 Mets lead.
Cruz blamed the sun for his difficulty reading the fly balls in center.
“Obviously, we don’t want those things to happen,” Cruz said through translator Stephen Morales. “But it was really uncomfortable today to have the sun right in front of my face. I tried my best, but it was kind of tough.”
It was a tough inning, given the two walks, hit-by-pitch and the misplays, but Kelly said Cruz will continue to work to improve in center.
“When you don’t make those two plays in center field, it makes it tough because they could have been outs,” Kelly said. “The first one was a really tough play, a line drive at him and he took a step in, the second one with the sun ball. It’s one of those things where the defense cost us some pitches and then cost Paul the first inning there.”
The Mets deserve credit for working deep counts and drawing works, forcing Pirates pitchers to stay in the strike zone. It marked the first time the Mets have scored three or more runs in a season opener.
“We did a lot of good things that inning,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Started off with Lindor walking, then Soto singling but Lindor putting pressure by going first to third there. That was huge. No panicking, two-strike approach from Bo (for a) sac fly. That Luis Robert at-bat was an unbelievable at-bat. For him to be able to lay off that 3-2 breaking ball sets up the table for Brett Baty, who gets a hold of one and clears the bases. It was just grinding the at-bats, getting him in the zone and staying aggressive with pitches we could do damage with – and we did that.”
Skenes recovered to strike out Benge but was pulled after hitting Francisco Alvarez with a pitch. Yohan Ramirez replaced Skenes, who handed the ball to Kelly and walked off the mound in a daze.
“Really tough inning there for us. Some unfortunate plays, some walks, some control but we’ve got to keep battling here,” Kelly said during an in-game interview with NBC. “It’s all pitch-count related, really for him. We don’t want to put him in harm’s way, getting up in the 40-pitch count mark. If we get into a foul-ball battle there, we don’t want to push him up in the mid-40s.”
Lowe homered again in his second at-bat, sending a 1-0 fastball 401 feet to right-center with two outs in the third inning for the ninth multi-homer game of his career to cut it to 5-3.
Lefty Mason Montgomery, acquired from Tampa Bay along with Lowe, replaced Ramirez only to walk the first two batters he faced, Lindor and Soto. Robert hit a two-out single to left to drive in Lindor and stretch the Mets’ lead to 6-3.
Nick Gonzales singled to start the fifth, then scored on a double to left by Henry Davis to cut it to 6-4. But the Mets increased their advantage in the fifth when Juan Soto hit a bases-loaded single through shortstop off Isaac Mattson. The righty reliever then won an epic duel with Bichette, ending a 13-pitch battle with a slider for a strikeout, but walked in a run by giving Jorge Polanco a free pass. Robert reached on a grounder to first, scoring Lindor to give the Mets a 9-4 edge.
O’Hearn, who signed a two-year, $29 million free-agent deal, clubbed a solo home run off Tobias Myers to cut it to 9-5.
The Mets reached double digits when Benge, making his major league debut, smacked a first-pitch sweeper by Justin Lawrence to right field for a solo home run. Benge got a curtain call. Alvarez followed by blasting a 2-2 fastball 429 feet to the second deck in left field for an 11-5 lead.
The Pirates rallied in the ninth against Luis Garcia. O’Hearn singled, Jared Triolo doubled and both scored on a double by Gonzales to cut it to 11-7. With a runner in scoring position and one out, it forced the Mets to have closer Devin Williams warm up in the bullpen despite the four-run cushion.
“Anytime you give up five in an inning it’s a gut punch,” Kelly said. “The thing that I’m proud of our club is there are times when we could have just folded and they hung in there and continued to battle. They had Williams up in the ‘pen in the ninth inning. It could have been a game easily that we could’ve mailed in. That wasn’t the case. We continued to grind it out and continued to play that style of baseball that we’re going to expect the whole season.”