The Pittsburgh Pirates infuriated baseball fans on Thursday with their controversial decision to pull Paul Skenes after seven no-hit innings.
Skenes was dominant against the Milwaukee Brewers, striking out 11 over seven innings without allowing a hit. However, manager Derek Shelton did not send Skenes out for the eighth inning after the rookie threw 99 pitches. Reliever Colin Holderman immediately gave up a hit upon entering the game, but the Pirates ultimately closed out a 1-0 victory while allowing two hits.
This was little consolation to many fans who wanted to see Skenes get his shot at history.
Paul Skenes, one of this year’s most electric, must-see pitchers, is pulled with a no-hitter in progress after 7 innings and 11 strikeouts.
No longer are pitchers given the opportunity to achieve greatness. Imagine pulling Gibson, Clemens or Mussina here? pic.twitter.com/RoovmYAnTA
— Not Gaetti (@notgaetti) July 11, 2024
Paul Skenes pulled after 7 IP with an 11K
No hitterAnd the bullpen immediately lets up a hit pic.twitter.com/YELmBtfyfj
— Barstool Baseball (@StoolBaseball) July 11, 2024
Absolute joke to not let Skenes pitch the 8th inning.
Baseball sucks.
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) July 11, 2024
I don't really get not letting Skenes go for it. We know he can pitch to ~120 without getting hurt from college, you have the ASG coming up, you're probably not running him out til the end of the season…just skip his start or something? capstone achievements are cool and good!
— Zander Craik, Doonhamer (@cdgoldstein) July 11, 2024
Sports really suck now. Paul Skenes has a no hitter and they pull him because of a pitch count. What are we doing?
— Raheem Palmer (@iamrahstradamus) July 11, 2024
Skenes regularly threw 100 pitches-or-more at LSU in 2023. Since then, the Pirates have been much less aggressive with him, as he never threw more than 75 pitches in any of his Triple-A outings. His season-high is 107 pitches, which he hit in his last start against the New York Mets on July 5.
Shelton was in a bad spot. Skenes was totally dominating the Brewers, but the Pirates have invested so much in him. On the other hand, Skenes has ample experience throwing well over 100 pitches, though it has been roughly a year since he did so regularly. The manager is already fairly unpopular among Pirates fans, and whether it was the right decision or not, this will only make matters worse.
