Skenes' legend grows in 1st Opening Day start

MIAMI -- Paul Skenes arrived to loanDepot park on Thursday for his Opening Day start Thursday in a suit, as usual, but also sporting a skull and crossbones tie. He was coming to work as a Pirate.

And as he has so many times in his young career, he made a bit of history, too.

Skenes became the youngest Pirate to make an Opening Day start since at least 1900 (22 years, 302 days), and the youngest across baseball since José Fernández for the Marlins in 2014. Skenes is the fastest to go from No. 1 overall pick to his first Opening Day start, eclipsing Mike Moore (No. 1 pick in 1981, Opening Day starter in '84) and Stephen Strasburg (No. 1 pick in 2009, Opening Day starter in '12).

“I think year two, but it’s the first really full year of it,” Derek Shelton said before the game. “... First Opening Day, it just seems like he’s accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. Just happy that he’s on the mound today.”

That start ended up being a mixed bag. Pittsburgh's star pitcher and NL Cy Young favorite started his sophomore campaign with seven strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. He allowed two runs on three hits and two walks and exited with the Pirates in front, but bullpen and defensive issues led to the Marlins winning, 5-4, in walk-off fashion.

A team Opening Day loss aside, Skenes gave a sample right away of what makes him a force on the mound.

Skenes came out of the gate firing fastballs to leadoff hitter Xavier Edwards before bringing out a changeup to end the at-bat with a punch-out. That set the tone for Skenes early: missing bats. Skenes racked up 16 whiffs on the afternoon: Seven with his “splinker,” six with his fastballs and three with his changeup. Four of his strikeouts were on fastballs, two on splinkers and one on a changeup.

“I think when you’re facing a guy like that, you kind of are in for a tough assignment,” Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers said.

All pitchers are heavily monitored early in the season, so there likely wasn’t any wiggle room for Skenes to extend beyond his 94 pitches. And while he was sharp most of the afternoon, back-to-back walks to end his outing was a bit anticlimactic -- but doesn’t take away from the start as a whole.

"Yeah, I mean, pretty damn good start,” Skenes said. “I got a little sloppy there at the end. Just gotta execute a little quicker in that sixth inning. Other than that, I was pretty happy with it."

As for Skenes making his first Opening Day start, it almost surely won’t be his last.

"It was a cool environment,” Skenes said. “A lot of energy in the building. Looking forward to next year."