Paul Skenes doesn’t look like himself and Pirates can’t ignore it anymore

The Pittsburgh Pirates can no longer treat Paul Skenes’ recent slide like a normal rough patch.

Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park was the loudest warning yet. The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pirates, 10-6, and knocked Skenes out after four innings, tagging the defending National League Cy Young winner for eight runs, seven earned, on six hits. It marked the Pirates’ ninth straight loss in a Skenes start, a stretch that has taken him from 6-2 with a 1.98 ERA after his May 12 win over the Colorado Rockies to 6-8 with a 3.62 ERA.

With each Skenes start, it gets harder to explain the results away as bad luck or poor run support. Something is wrong.

That doesn't necessarily mean Skenes is injured. He didn't indicate as much after Wednesday's game, and there's danger in diagnosing from the outside. But whether this is fatigue, mechanical drift, a deliberate attempt to back off velocity, World Baseball Classic wear, confidence, pitch design or something physical, the result is the same: Skenes doesn't look like Skenes.

The fastball is the most obvious place to start. Skenes averaged 96.3 mph Wednesday, down from his season average, and dipped into the 93-94 mph range in the fourth inning. For many pitchers, that's still elite velocity. But for Skenes, it's a flashing red light. His entire profile is built on overwhelming hitters with power, then forcing them to defend everything else. When that fastball backs up, the rest of the arsenal becomes a lot easier to survive.

Pirates are running out of time to solve their Paul Skenes dilemma

The Pirates can no longer keep pretending this will magically correct itself in five days. They need to create space for an honest evaluation. That means a deeper medical review, a mechanical audit, a workload conversation and, yes, a serious discussion about whether skipping a start or using the injured list is the responsible move.

The worst possible outcome is continuing to run Skenes out there because of who he is, what he means to the franchise and how badly the Pirates need him to look superhuman again. That's how a short-term issue becomes a season-altering problem. Skenes is competitive enough to keep taking the ball. The organization has to be strong enough to decide whether he should.

If the Pirates need to operate as though their ace is unavailable for a while, that changes everything. It increases pressure on Bubba Chandler, Jared Jones, Braxton Ashcraft and Mitch Keller. It makes the need for bullpen help even more urgent. It also forces Ben Cherington to be honest about the trade deadline. A team without peak Skenes can't build its plan around the version of Skenes it wishes it had.

Skenes isn't finished. He is too talented, too driven and too important for that kind of overreaction. But he's not right. And the Pirates’ next move has to start there.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow