Tim Benz: Paul Skenes' arrival means the future has to be now for fumbling Pirates

For a change, it felt like someone upstairs was looking out for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Well, at least for a little while.

As late as 2 p.m. Saturday, the rain was teeming down on PNC Park. But by 3:30 p.m., a half hour before Paul Skenes’ first pitch, the sun was splashing the North Shore for the franchise’s most anticipated game in nearly a decade.

Not since the 2015 wild-card loss to the Chicago Cubs has a game for this organization felt so important. That’s because with Skenes making his debut against those same Cubs, the Pirates’ future instantly became their present.

Last year’s No.1 overall draft choice was promoted to Pittsburgh from Triple-A Indianapolis this week with more acclaim than any pitching prospect since Washington’s Stephen Strasburg in June 2010.

And the crowd felt the gravity of the moment, giving Skenes a standing ovation during pregame lineup introductions before he even stepped on the hill. The fans oohed and awed over his first warmup pitch, loudly booed any called ball regardless of how close it was to the strike zone and roared their approval when the LSU product struck out Chicago leadoff man Mike Tauchman.

Paul Skenes strikes out the first batter he faces! ???? pic.twitter.com/MUkwo60lKa

— MLB (@MLB) May 11, 2024

That was the first of seven strikeouts for the fire-balling Skenes, who hit 100 mph 17 times during the game. However, he was far from dominant or efficient, yielding three earned runs, six hits, two walks and a hit batter over four innings pitched (84 pitches).

“The stuff was really good. I’ve just got to get ahead of hitters more consistently. I think that will come,” Skenes said.

Manager Derek Shelton suggested Skenes’ control issues may have had to do with too much adrenaline.

“I would guess he was a little bit over-amped. So the fastball command wasn’t as sharp as we had seen it in Indy,” Shelton said. “But overall the stuff plays, and it’s good.”

The bigger-picture conversation to be had in the wake of Skenes’ debut, though, is that the future is now for the Pirates rotation. Skenes is here. Fellow first-rounder Quinn Priester is in the big leagues again. Jared Jones has been up all year and is performing well. All-Star Mitch Keller is locked up until 2028 on a $77 million contract and coming off a complete-game victory.

That’s two first-round picks and two second-round picks.

“Guys are coming on,” Keller said before Skenes’ outing. “It’s been great. It’s cool. It makes everyone around here happy. Now we just have to win.”

Theoretically, the same should be true with bats, but it isn’t.

It looks like Oneil Cruz is coming around after missing almost all of last year with a fractured leg. He homered again Saturday, his third this month.

Unfortunately, Bryan Reynolds and Ke’Bryan Hayes aren’t producing to the level of their contracts. Last week, 2021 first-rounder Henry Davis was demoted after hitting .162 to start the season. Only recently was 2020 first-round pick Nick Gonzales called back up after a rough first experience in the big leagues last season, and the team’s .221 batting average is 26th in MLB.

So, as is often the case, the Pirates have some catching up to do. After all, now that Skenes is here, the window is officially open. If the Pirates can avoid slamming it shut on their own fingers, that’d be a pleasant departure for this often forlorn franchise.

“A lot of the guys who are here are going to be here. We are going to get this thing going largely with the group that we have here,” general manager Ben Cherington said before the game Saturday.

“It’s never one thing. We know we need to get better. I believe we can. I believe we will. Ultimately, I’m responsible for that.”

So is the owner, Bob Nutting. So are the players. So is Shelton, whose record is now 236-350. A half-hearted “FI-re SHEL-ton” chant broke out as the Pirates were blowing a 6-1 lead in the fifth inning. Matt Canada would’ve been insulted by the lack of enthusiasm behind the effort. But what else were the fans to do to entertain themselves as the Pirates pitchers were walking most of the Cubs lineup around the bases in the fifth inning?

The Pirates ended up winning the game 10-9. However, the weather turned back to rainy and dreary. A delay of 2 hours, 20 minutes ensued, and the Pirates comically walked in six runs in one inning. In all, the day didn’t exactly end up going as the Pirates hoped — a common theme for this club for most of the last 32 years since it last won a division title.

Perhaps Skenes and this young nucleus can change those fortunes.

I just hope they watch their fingers on the windowsill.