Pirates manager explains why he pulled Paul Skenes during no-hit bid
NY Post
Paul Skenes nearly had a chance at history, but his manager prevented any chance at it.
After dismantling the Brewers through seven no-hit innings, Skenes — who had totaled 99 pitches at that point — was pulled from Thursday’s contest prior to the eighth inning.
Immediately after Skenes exited the game, Pirates reliever Colin Holderman surrendered a single to Jake Bauers, curtailing a combined no-hit attempt.
Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton defended his decision to opt for a reliever instead of using Skenes in the eighth.
“He was tired,” Shelton explained. “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.”
The manager summarized that Skenes, 22, “gave us everything he had” in seven near-perfect innings.
With the Yankees on an impressive run of mostly correct decisions, there’s some reason to leave them alone and just let the best team in the American League continue to roll. But they did raise serious doubt and leave room for suggestions (and even ridicule) following maybe the most inexplicable decision of this season, or any season.
The Giants have never been 0-2 under Brian Daboll, until now. They were 2-0 and flying high in 2022 and 1-1 after a rousing comeback in Arizona in 2023. So, this represents a low point as far as early-season difficulties for Daboll and the Giants. They had no business beating the Vikings in the opener and no business losing to the Commanders in Week 2. But here they are.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Harrison Butker kept making a lonely walk to midfield after each quarter Sunday to check on the direction of the wind, which tends to swirl inside Arrowhead Stadium. He did it one last time during the 2-minute warning, when his Chiefs were trailing the Bengals by two and trying to give him a winning field-goal attempt.