Pirates Manager Reveals Why He Pulled Paul Skenes From No-Hitter

Pittsburgh Pirates pitching sensation Paul Skenes was just six outs away from becoming the 26th rookie in Major League Baseball history to pitch a no-hitter. However, he didn’t get the opportunity.

After finishing seven no-hit innings on Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers, Pirates manager Derek Shelton took his 22-year-old starter out of the game.

Read more: Paul Skenes Makes Final Push to Start All-Star Game With No-Hit Performance

Skenes had thrown 99 pitches through seven innings, but was coming off a seventh inning in which he threw just six pitches. Still, Shelton decided it was time for his budding superstar to be removed from the game.

After the game — a 1-0 Pirates win — Shelton was, of course, asked about his decision to remove Skenes from the game. Was it a difficult one for Shelton to make?

“Not at all,” Shelton told reporters in Milwaukee. “I mean, he was tired.”

What did Shelton see in Skenes that led him to believe he was tired?

“I think the stuff, and just how the body was reacting,” Shelton said. “Even after the sixth (inning) we could tell he was getting a little bit tired.”

Did it have to do with the pitch count being at 99 pitches?

“It really didn’t have anything to do with the pitch count. Everybody makes it about pitch counts — it was about where he was at,” Shelton said. “It was about trusting your eyes, trusting him. When I went and talked to him after that, I mean, he was tired. They did a good job of wearing him down and I mean he gave us everything he had.”

Skenes definitely gave the Pirates all he had en route to the best performance of his young career. This was Skenes’ second career start of at least six innings while allowing zero hits, but it was his first going seven innings. His 11 strikeouts matched a career high.

“I wasn’t gonna be surprised either way, if he sent me out or pulled me,” Skenes said to MLB Network after the game. “I mean, we have (Colin) Holderman and (Aroldis) Chapman at the back end of our bullpen. Those are, I think, two of the best guys in the league, so I have a ton of trust in them to be able to finish it. Obviously, in a 1-0 game you want to stay in there, you want to finish it. But, the volume is getting up there a little bit, so I get it.”

This outing brought Skenes’ season ERA down to 1.90. He’s now the first pitcher in MLB history to have seven or more strikeouts in 10 of his first 11 starts. His 14 earned runs are also the fewest of the 11 pitchers with at least 80 strikeouts in their first 11 career appearances, per MLB researcher Sarah Langs.

Skenes already became the first No. 1 overall pick to be selected to the All-Star team as a rookie. He’s now making a serious case to start the All-Star Game for the National League. He’ll be on regular four days rest on Tuesday, when the All-Star Game takes place in Arlington, Texas.

Read more: Can Paul Skenes Make the MLB All-Star Game as a Rookie?

“I’m not gonna say no to starting it, that would be pretty dang cool,” Skenes said. “It would be a really cool experience, super humbling to be able to start it, for sure.”