Shortly after the Pittsburgh Pirates surrendered a five-run lead to the Chicago Cubs Saturday at PNC Park, the skies opened up, with thunder and heavy rains delaying the game, which featured top prospect Paul Skenes’ MLB debut.
At the time of the delay, the Pirates and Cubs were tied 6-6.
Skenes made his highly anticipated first start for the Pirates, flashing triple-digit fastballs and striking out seven through four innings of work.
He was removed in the top of the fifth inning after allowing a leadoff double to Mike Tauchman followed by a single to Seiya Suzuki.
At that point, he was at 84 pitches, nine more than the maximum he’d thrown over seven total starts at Triple-A Indianapolis leading into his call-up.
Connor Joe, Oneil Cruz and Michael A. Taylor all hit home runs for the Pirates, giving them an early 6-1 lead.
Nico Hoerner hit a solo shot off of Skenes in the fourth for the Cubs’ first run.
In the top of the fifth, after Skenes left the game with men on first and second and no outs, the Pirates’ bullpen imploded.
Kyle Nicolas quickly struck out a pair but then hit Ian Happ before issuing three straight four-pitch walks with the bases loaded, allowing Chicago to plate three.
He was removed from the game to a chorus of boos in favor of Josh Fleming, who himself issued a bases-loaded walk to Yan Gomes, scoring another run for Chicago.
Tauchman managed an infield hit, again with the bases loaded, to tie the score before the game entered a delay.
While on the mound, Skenes allowed six hits with a pair of walks in four innings pitched but was responsible for two of the runs Nicolas walked home.
Justin Guerriero is a TribLive reporter covering the Penguins, Pirates and college sports. A Pittsburgh native, he is a Central Catholic and University of Colorado graduate. He joined the Trib in 2022 after covering the Colorado Buffaloes for Rivals and freelancing for the Denver Post. He can be reached at jguerriero@triblive.com.