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The Pittsburgh Pirates have a problem. And it has nothing to do with the mound.
On Thursday, Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes, the 2025 NL Cy Young Award winner, was rocked in an Opening Day start at Citi Field against the New York Mets.
Pittsburgh’s ace didn’t get out of the first inning, allowing five earned runs while recording just two outs, including one strikeout. Six of the nine batters Skenes faced reached base — four with hits and two on walks. He left the game with a 67.50 earned run average (ERA), a far cry from his MLB-best 1.97 ERA a season ago.
It was about as bad as start to a season as of a pitcher of Skenes’ caliber could have, but his brief outing is hardly a cause for concern. He’ll be just fine.
But the inning did reveal a major problem in the outfield for the Pirates.
Centerfielder Oneil Cruz already on hot seat after nightmarish first inning on Opening Day
Oneil Cruz had a first inning to forget, directly contributing to Skenes’ elevated numbers with two awful defensive plays.
With one out and the bases loaded, Mets designated hitter Brett Baty hit a fly ball to centerfield, which Cruz badly misplayed. He began by moving in, then was forced the backtrack as the ball sailed over his head for a bases-clearing triple.
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