Paul Skenes’ first start of the 2026 season might not have even lasted a New York minute. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ ace surrendered five runs in his Opening Day start against the New York Mets, and was pulled after pitching just ⅔ of an inning. All five runs were earned, with the Mets logging four hits and two walks off Skenes before he drilled catcher Francisco Alvarez. Skenes also recorded a strikeout. Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor began the inning with a walk before star outfielder Juan Soto moved him to third on a single in the following at-bat. Third baseman Bo Bichette scored Lindor on a sacrifice fly in his first at-bat with the Mets. A single by first baseman Jorge Polanco and a walk from outfielder Luis Robert Jr. allowed the Mets to load the bases with just one out against Skenes. That’s where Skenes’ day quickly unraveled, with Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz making a pair of mistakes to make matters worse for the reigning NL Cy Young winner. Designated hitter Brett Baty hit a bases-clearing triple that might have been caught by Cruz had he not misplayed the ball off the bat. On the very next pitch, second baseman Marcus Semien hit a pop fly that should’ve been caught by Cruz, but dropped in the gap. New York took a 5-2 lead by that point, negating the early lead Pittsburgh took off a two-run homer from Brandon Lowe in his first at-bat with the Pirates. While Skenes was able to strike out right fielder Carson Benge in the following at-bat, his day ended after he plunked Alvarez. Skenes threw 37 pitches in the first inning before getting pulled. Thursday marked the shortest outing of Skenes’ young career, and just the second time he allowed five earned runs in an outing. It’s also the first time that the Mets have scored more than three runs in the first inning on Opening Day in franchise history. Skenes’ outing came on the heels of his impressive showing for Team USA at the World Baseball Classic. The righty allowed just one run in 8 ⅓ innings over two outings during the tournament. But Pirates manager Don Kelly expressed that he wanted to limit Skenes’ usage after things went south in the first inning. “It was all pitch count related, really, for him,” Kelly told the NBC broadcast. “We didn’t want to put him in harms way, up in the 40-pitch count mark. If we get in a foul ball battle there, we don’t want to push him in the mid-40s [in the first inning].”
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