Paul Skens and his parents got a suite at Dodger Stadium Friday night, handing out tickets for around 35 aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.
“I was playing for free tonight,” he joked.
Those Skenes know from Back Home seemed hoping to see the 22-year-old ace of the Pittsburgh Pirates in nearby Orange County when they took the mound against the Los Angeles Dodgers and their own top pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
During Yamamoto’s brilliance, the powerhouse lineup sent from the Defending World Series champions, and the pressure to perform for family and friends, this showdown may have been one of the most challenging nights of Suken’s incredible young career.
He responded with calmness and tenacity – and six pitches that seemed to get better each month.
The Skenes surpassed Yamamoto and pitched five hit balls in the seventh inning on a career-high 108 pitch.
Los Angeles 11 year old pulls a unique Paul Skens baseball card worth over $1 million
He retired from Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts three times each, leaving Freddie Freeman behind after both hits.
Skenes (3-2) won the victory in Pittsburgh’s 3-0 victory over Los Angeles, earning nine strikeouts without a walk.
The pitcher, attracting attention throughout the sport, has put together a night that his family will not immediately forget. He wasn’t overly excited by the details of his performance, but even Suken could not deny that he had gotten the job done.
“Even if they run the pitch, they’re still trying to find a way to ride,” Skens said. “Today I definitely ran better than the other two I’ve faced with them, but it’s just like that nature. They’re really good hitters. You have to find a way to get through the innings.”
Skenes did it over and over, and his escape from the four and five innings was amazing.
An 11-year-old Los Angeles kid sends a unique baseball card to auction, calling it “a dream come true.”
Freeman led from fourth to third when Brian Reynolds struggled to track a slugger double-to-right pursuit. Skenes caused a short groundout from Teoscar Hernández, struck Tommy Edman and flew off to Will Smith.
“I think Paul Skenneth saw why Paul Skenneth was,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. “It’s so impressive to see him come out with zero after going through the places he went in order.”
Skenes then gave up two doubles on Andy Page fifth and raised Ohtani. He was 3-1 late on the count, but Suken had his splitter fouled and made the three MVPs sounded demonically good curves.
Suken shrugged when asked where he found confidence to throw these two destructive balls.
“It’s not ideal to play against the best batsman in the game, but what do you need to lose?” he asked. “Literally, what do I need to lose? Let’s see what we’re doing and see what mine is. If he was supposed to go out, he’d go out. That at-bat, I was everywhere. I was on some terrible pitches.
Shelton even allowed Suken to go out seventh, but only for one batter. He attacked Smith with a splitter that broke like a Frisbee, then left the mound to cheer in gratitude from his family, as well as many Dodgers fans.
“I think he’s one of the best in the game. When he needed a strikeout, he did that in that one inning,” said Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts. “He found a way to limit the damage. He kept us balanced with his off-speed stuff, sweepers, springers, obviously fastballs being 97, 98.
Yamamoto was undoubtedly the best pitcher in the majors last month, and entered the night with a 0.93 ERA.
However, for Yamamoto, it never went very smoothly against the pirates who involved the two meetings. It was caused by a slow error from Max Muncie in the second, eventually leading to two unfortunate runs for the fifth time.
Although all five hits from Yamamoto in Pittsburgh were singles, he also issued four walks. This is the first inning of 32 pitches. Yamamoto eventually settled down with an impressive mix of pitch, but his teammates couldn’t help him.
“If you like pitching, I think you’ve seen two guys today with lots of pitches,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. “It was a fun game to watch if you like pitching.”
Skenes can taste this victory a little more than others. He had already got his family time on Friday just hours before taking the mound, and was planning on meeting everyone afterwards.
Southern California’s Saturday with unseasonably cold rain, mountain snow
“Today was like a family gathering,” he said. “It’s all my mother’s brother and my father’s brother, and their family is all here. It’s cool. It’s not happening for a while, so it’s cool to be able to share it with them.”
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb
Source link
