Thanks to a free ticket, a teenage Paul Skenes was in attendance when Shohei Ohtani made his home pitching debut for the Los Angeles Angels against the Oakland Athletics in April 2018.
Skenes watched in awe as the Japanese superstar, then only a 23-year-old rookie, recorded 12 strikeouts while tossing a one-hitter over seven scoreless innings in a 6-1 win.
“Obviously didn’t know what the baseball world had at the time,” Skenes said, “but it was fun watching him compete.”
The baseball world knew it was watching something special when Skenes faced Ohtani for the first time in a highly anticipated showdown between phenoms Wednesday night when the Los Angeles Dodgers played the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.
Skenes’ showdown with Ohtani lived up to its billing in the Pirates’ 10-6 victory.
And there was plenty of hype, given that it featured a two-time AL MVP in Ohtani, a two-way talent widely regarded as the game’s best player, against the 6-foot-6, 260-pound 22-year-old rookie right-hander who made his major-league debut only 10 months after being the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft.
Asked if it was perhaps a prelude to the All-Star Game, if MLB is inclined to showcase two of its biggest phenoms in the midsummer classic, Pirates manager Derek Shelton tried to tamper expectations on Skenes before his fifth career start in the majors.
“I think we’re getting way too ahead of ourselves for those kinds of things, in terms of All-Star Games,” Shelton said. “There’s a lot of people that are very worthy of those positions. This is just a singular regular-season game where (Skenes has) to go out and pitch well against a really good lineup.”
That the Dodgers have three MVPs at the top of their batting order in Mookie Betts, Ohtani and Freddie Freeman didn’t seem to faze Skenes, who expressed excitement Tuesday about the challenge.
“We’re going to have a good plan going in, and I’ve just got to execute the plan,” Skenes said. “Hopefully, it’ll work out for the best.”
The first inning couldn’t have gone better for Skenes. After he struck out Betts on four pitches, Skenes got Ohtani swinging at three consecutive four-seamers clocked at triple digits. Ohtani whiffed at a 101.3-mph fastball inside, had a foul tip on a 100.1 pitch away, then went down swinging at 100.8 high and inside. Freeman worked a 3-1 count before hitting a high flyout to right field.
The Pirates chased Dodgers lefty James Paxton after only 1 2/3 innings, as they scored seven runs in the bottom of the second. That forced Skenes to wait through a long inning before taking the mound again.
In the third, Skenes gave up a single to Andy Pages, then got Chris Taylor looking at a curveball for a strikeout before Betts grounded into a forceout. That brought Ohtani to bat again. This time, Skenes opted to mix his pitches. He threw a first-pitch fastball at 99.6 mph for a strike, followed by a pair of changeups for balls before blowing a 99.5-mph heater by him for a second strike. Ohtani sat on a 100-mph fastball inside to work a full count, then waited for Skenes to challenge him.
When Skenes left a 100.1-mph fastball over the middle, Ohtani sent it 415 feet to straightaway center for a two-run home run — his 15th of the season — to cut the Pirates’ lead to 7-2. Skenes recovered by getting Freeman to line out to left.
Skenes and Ohtani matched up again in the fifth, after Andy Pages led off with a solo homer to cut the Dodgers’ deficit to 7-3, Chris Taylor reached on an error by shortstop Nick Gonzales and Betts watched a 100.6-mph fastball for a called third strike.
Ohtani fouled off the first pitch, a slider, and took a changeup for a ball before smacking a 98.1-mph fastball at the top of the strike zone for a single through second base. Will Smith followed with a single to right, but Skenes got Teoscar Hernandez to ground to third for a forceout.
After allowing three runs on six hits with eight strikeouts against one walk in five innings and topping triple digits on 16 of his 93 pitches — including five against Ohtani — Skenes walked off the mound to cheers from a crowd that had fun watching him compete against baseball’s best.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.