Friday’s “First Call” features a breakdown of Paul Skenes’ start against the Chicago Cubs. Another Pittsburgh Steeler endorses the offensive line switcheroo. Ian Happ does some good for his hometown while he does plenty of bad against the Pirates.

And we look at Derek Shelton’s return to Pittsburgh.

Finding something

After the Pirates’ loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, there was concern that Paul Skenes’ velocity was down. His fastball came in at 97 mph on average.

That brought his average for the year down to 97.1. So it wasn’t that far off.

However, on Thursday, despite a third straight loss, Pirates manager Don Kelly said that he felt as if Skenes’ velocity ticked up a bit against the Cubs.

It did, but not by much. Statcast says Skenes’ average fastball was at 97.4 mph versus the Cubs. But he used it more often, 36 pitches (37% of his 103 on the night). In Canada, Skenes threw only 29 fastballs (30% of his 98 pitches).

Skenes was pulled after 5⅓ innings during the 5-2 loss to Toronto. He lasted 5⅔ en route to a 7-2 Pirates defeat at PNC Park on Thursday.

Despite having a little more juice and 10 strikeouts against Chicago after only two versus the Jays, Skenes still wasn’t happy.

“Just one of those outings where fastball command is kind of here and there. Slider command is kind of here and there. Stuff like that. It just happens throughout the season,” Skenes said.

The reigning Cy Young winner said he didn’t have to reach back for any added velocity. He fell to 6-5, despite allowing just one earned run. His ERA has now dipped to 2.89.

Back home

Spencer Anderson is endorsing the Steelers’ offensive line shakeup.

The versatile 25-year-old from Maryland has played up and down the line. Right now, though, he is working at right guard and is in a competition with newly signed Brock Hoffman and Iowa rookie Gennings Dunker.

After playing lots of left guard and jumbo tackle last year, Anderson seems happy at right guard right now.

“I feel more comfortable at right (guard). That’s my home,” Anderson said. “When I first met the staff, I was asked if I was going to pick one. … If I had a choice, I’d say right guard,” Anderson said. “At the time, I was playing left. Here we are now.”

Dylan Cook and Troy Fautanu have both seemed to be on board with flip-flopping sides of the line at tackle, with Fautanu going to the left side and Cook moving over to the right with Anderson.

Mason McCormick has also moved from right guard to left.

See you soon, Shelty

Former Pirates manager Derek Shelton arrives in Pittsburgh on Friday with his Minnesota Twins for a three-game weekend series at PNC Park.

The Twins come to town at 27-30. That’s good for third place in the American League Central, 5½ games behind division-leading Cleveland.

However, Shelton’s crew just dropped three of four at Chicago against the White Sox. That included a 6-2 defeat on Thursday afternoon.

The Twins managed just six hits and one earned run against White Sox ace Davis Martin, who is now 8-1 with an ERA of 2.00 and a WHIP of 0.99.

Ex-Pirate Josh Bell was one of the few Twins to get a hit on the day. But he is hitting just .213 with five homers and 29 RBIs. Byron Buxton leads the team with 17 homers and 52 hits.

Minnesota is 12-16 away from home. If the Pirates can get into the Twins’ bullpen, that’ll be a good sign. Minnesota relievers have a 4.81 ERA (26th in MLB), and opposing hitters have a .262 average against them. Only the Royals’ relief staff is worse (.264).

Jared Jones makes his 2026 Pirates debut after recovering from an elbow injury that wiped out his 2025 season. The Twins counter with Taj Bradley (5-1, 2.77 ERA).

Happ happy to help

When Ian Happ isn’t depositing baseballs over the Clemente Wall for the Chicago Cubs, he’s been making some deposits to his old high school.

The Mt. Lebanon grad made a $20,000 donation last year to help build a new gym. And last month, he made a $25,000 donation to put baseball-specific REP fitness equipment in the facility.

Hailey Hunter of SportsNet Pittsburgh outlined the story prior to Thursday’s 7-2 Cubs victory over the Pirates.

“The head coach there, Patt McCloskey, was my head coach. He was my brother’s head coach. He’s an unbelievable human being, and meant so much to me. Not only my baseball career, my life,” Happ said. “They were still using a lot of the same equipment that was there when I was there. So to be able to give back and build them a new gym with some state-of-the-art stuff, it’s pretty cool.”

In the last two games of their series at PNC Park, the Cubs won 10-4 and 7-2. Happ went 5 for 11 with two homers and seven RBIs.

In 67 games at PNC Park, Happ has nine homers, a .306 batting average and a .915 OPS.