Derek Shelton's postgame comments have Pirates fans begging to unleash Paul Skenes

Pittsburgh Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes was named the National League's starting pitcher for the MLB All-Star Game following an electrifying start against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday. He threw 99 pitches over seven innings of no-hit baseball, tied his career high with 11 strikeouts in a single game and set a new franchise record with seven or more strikeouts in eight consecutive starts.

The bigger storyline, though, was Pirates manager Derek Shelton's questionable decision to yank Skenes from the game after the seventh inning, denying him the chance to complete the no-hitter.

Perhaps even more questionable was Shelton's decision to give the ball to reliever Colin Holderman, who was in the middle of his worst stretch of the season. Of course, Holderman came in and gave up a hit immediately, then proceeded to load the bases before just barely squeezing his way out of the jam.

It begs the question: was it a difficult decision for Shelton to pull the plug on Skenes during one of the most dominant performances of his young career?

"Not at all," Shelton said during his postgame media scrum.

Oh. Well then.

“He was tired,” Shelton continued. “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. It was about trusting your eyes, trusting him. When I went and talked to him after [the seventh inning], he was tired. They did a good job of wearing him down. He gave us everything he had."

Did he, though? Skenes had thrown 99 pitches. He regularly threw well into the 120s in college. And even if it "didn't have anything to do with the pitch count," it feels a little too coincidental that Skenes finished just one pitch short of Major League Baseball's arbitrary limit-turned-dogma of 100 for starters. Besides, 99 pitches over seven innings is very different than 99 pitches over four or five innings.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a pitcher in this league who would turn down an opportunity to complete a no-hitter, even if he was "tired." And while we're on the subject, what was it about Skenes' performance that indicated to Shelton that he was too tired to finish the game?

"Just how his body was reacting," Shelton said. "Even after the sixth, we could tell he was getting a little bit tired."

By the sixth, you mean the inning in which he retired three batters in seven pitches? Huh. Interesting.

"I think it's the first time we've seen it, the volume he's had," Shelton said. "But overall, the fact that he was able to go back [and] get through the seventh, it was really impressive. He did a really great job."

Indeed, it was really impressive. But Skenes didn't just "get through" the seventh; he did it in just six pitches.

Skenes, who recently made history as the first player ever to be selected to the All-Star Game the summer after he was drafted, was buzzing in the sixth and seventh innings. As is customary for the young phenom, he was getting better as the game went along. Why give him the hook just as he was hitting his stride?

Skenes starting the All-Star Game is no excuse for having him pulled from no-hit bid vs. Brewers

Before we get any further, spare us the arguments about "saving" Skenes for a an All-Star Game start. Thursday's contest was four days before the All-Star Game, in which Skenes will likely throw somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 pitches (if that). After that, the Pirates could have allowed him at least six more days of rest by not starting him in the first game or two after the All-Star break. The no-hitter was doable, and it would have given the Pirates the best chance to win.

Yes, the Pirates would go on to capture the victory by a final score of 1-0. But with Holderman and Aroldis Chapman on the mound, winning was merely a happy accident. With Skenes, it would have been a virtual guarantee.

Thursday's start marked the second time this season Skenes had thrown at least six no-hit innings to begin a game. That tied him with Max Fried and Ronel Blanco for the most in the majors. Mind you, Skenes did not make his major league debut until mid-May.

He's also the only player in Baseball Reference's database to have multiple six-plus-inning, no-hit starts as a rookie, and he joins Nolan Ryan as the only other pitcher in AL/NL history to record multiple starts with 11 strikeouts over six or more no-hit innings.

Here's the real kicker, though – when Ryan did it in 1973, he completed the no-hitter both times.

The Pirates have been handling Skenes with kid gloves, but eventually the training wheels have to come off. It's time to let the kid play.

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