Pirates fans need to admit Don Kelly got Paul Skenes decision right

If Don Kelly had left Paul Skenes out there for the ninth inning and allowed the Pittsburgh Pirates’ ace to finish a complete-game shutout in one of the best outings of his young career, plenty of people would have understood it. Supported it, even.

Skenes was utterly dominant in the Pirates’ gritty 1-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night. He retired the first 14 hitters he faced, allowed just two hits over eight scoreless innings and struck out seven without issuing a walk. He threw strikes relentlessly, generated quick outs and looked completely in control from the first pitch to the 97th.

It felt like the game was his — which is exactly why Kelly's decision to take the ball from him became so controversial.

Pirates fans naturally wanted to see Skenes finish what he started. Complete games are becoming extinct in modern baseball, and performances like this deserve that kind of ending. Emotionally, it’s easy to understand the frustration.

But emotionally satisfying and strategically correct are not always the same thing. Kelly made the harder decision — and probably the right one.

Skenes had already thrown a season-high 97 pitches and emptied the tank in the eighth inning, striking out three hitters to preserve a one-run lead, when Kelly made the decision to hand the ball to one of the best relievers in the National League this season.

Don Kelly's controversial decision to pull Paul Skenes after 8 innings was rewarded immediately

Gregory Soto has quietly become one of the most dominant bullpen arms in baseball. After closing out the Diamondbacks in the ninth, Soto now owns a 1.50 ERA, a 0.72 WHIP and a microscopic .102 batting average against over 18 appearances. Hitters simply are not squaring him up.

Even Skenes himself had no issue with the move.

“When I came out, I didn’t know what the pitch count was,” Skenes said afterward. “I had a lot of confidence in Soto to finish it. I wasn’t worrying about it too much.”

If the ace isn’t storming around the dugout upset about getting pulled, maybe everyone else doesn’t need to, either.

And Kelly’s trust in Soto was rewarded immediately. Aside from one walk to Geraldo Perdomo, Soto looked composed and overpowering. He struck out José Fernández on four pitches, then got Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll to end the game without much real drama. That’s exactly what a manager hopes for when making a difficult call like this.

The reality is that Kelly is managing for six months, not one inning. The Pirates need Skenes healthy and dominant in September far more than they needed a complete game in early May.

And while fans may not have loved seeing Skenes walk off after eight innings, the most important thing happened afterward:

The Pirates won.

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