Skenes has been the Pirates' one non-negotiable this season — the reigning NL Cy Young winner, the guy the front office builds everything around. So when he came out of Tuesday's start against the Marlins after only 5 innings and 65 pitches, Barstool's baseball account didn't waste time asking the obvious question.
Esteury Ruiz rounds the bases on a solo homer off Skenes as the broadcast shows Pirates trailing 0-1 in the 3rd inning.
The line itself wasn't the alarming part. Skenes gave up just the one run on the Ruiz homer, struck out 4 and walked 1 — a start he'd normally cruise through deep into the game. What set off alarms was the fastball. Reports pegged his velocity at 96.8 mph, down from 98.8 mph back in his 2024 rookie season, and he never got out of the mid-90s in this one. For a pitcher whose entire game is built on blowing that heater by hitters, a 2-mph dip isn't nothing.
Pulled after 65 pitches and the velo was down big time. This could be very bad
Eric Hubbs' first reaction summed up what everyone watching was thinking — a guy this good doesn't get pulled at 65 pitches unless something's off. Skenes has had a rougher 2026 than his rookie-of-the-year, Cy Young-winning run suggested he'd have, including a stretch in July where his ERA ballooned to 6.25 across 6 starts. Getting capped early against Miami, with the Pirates still fighting for wild card position, only added to the sense that this outing was about more than just matchups.
The good news arrived a couple hours later. Hubbs followed up confirming it wasn't injury-related, even while admitting the whole situation still didn't sit right.
Glad it wasn’t injury related. Still so bizarre to see this from Skenes.
So Skenes avoided the worst-case scenario, at least for now. But 'not hurt' and 'fully fine' aren't the same thing, and a declining fastball in the middle of a playoff push is its own kind of problem for a Pirates team that doesn't have much margin for error. Expect every one of his next few starts to get picked apart pitch-by-pitch until that velocity climbs back to where it's supposed to be.