Paul Skenes took the mound against the Cubs and brought his full pitch arsenal early. In the first inning, he worked a tough at-bat against Seiya Suzuki, starting with a 95 mph sinker followed by a 100 mph four-seamer. The pitch overlay showed how tough that combo is to read—one drops hard, the other rides up. Skenes worked the count and set Suzuki up with a slider away, but Suzuki held off. On a fastball outside, Skenes thought he had strike three and started walking off the mound. The umpire didn’t like that move and let Skenes know to wait for the call.
The moment sparked a minor on-field exchange. Pirates manager Derek Shelton backed up his pitcher, shouting at the ump to ease off. The ump fired back that Skenes needed to respect the strike call. Skenes took it in stride and seemed to appreciate both the intensity and his manager going to bat for him. The at-bat ended with Suzuki squeezing a jammed fastball into center for a bloop single. Skenes had to reset, learn, and move on like all young pitchers do.