The Pirates Robbed Us Of a Special Moment Today By Pulling Paul Skenes With a No-Hitter After Seven Dominant Innings And 99 Pitches

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Paul Skenes continues to be unbelievable. Scary enough, he continues to get better. Today he flirted with a no-hitter in Milwaukee before being pulled after seven innings and 99 pitches. He was utterly dominant. The Brewers were in hell all day. 

Now let me get out front right away and say it's so fucking lame to pull him. Denying us of a really cool moment from a pitcher who has immediately risen to superstardom. Obviously people are up in arms about pulling him early. I completely get it, but part of me is okay with it because he was only chasing a no-hitter. Perfect game? Completely different story, you let him go. Pull him and I riot to no end. No hitters happen more often than cycles these days. They've lost their lure as sad as it is to say, thanks Manfred. 

Now nothing about his physique, history, or mechanics would point to being worried about injuries though. Dude was throwing 120+ pitches at LSU in some of his starts. He's the definition of a horse. Also no one has nailed down how to keep a pitcher healthy. It just happens. The human body was not meant to throw a baseball with effort as much as pitchers do. Teams have instituted limits and all that only to still see the worst case scenario arrive regardless. If this is like let's say 2005 he's staying in the game until he gets it or doesn't. Sadly this is just the way baseball is. 

Protecting Skenes health is for sure paramount above anything else. Pirates fan or not, the last thing we want is him turning into another Strasburg who can't stay on the mound. He's a spectacle and we need him to stay that way. Casual fans are going out of their way to tune into Pirates baseball every fifth day. That's what we're talking about. This is a big fucking deal. 

Amazing enough, Skenes threw 63 pitches in the first 3 innings of the game. Based on that you'd never think he'd even flirt with the possibility of going the distance. Throwing 7 pitches in the 6th and 6 in the 7th helped make it a possibility. And while he did all that he racked up 11 strikeouts, tying a career high. Guy is a sicko. 

The start wrapped up his jaw dropping first half. It's crazy how quickly he's become one of the most dominant pitchers in the sport. This isn't supposed to happen this early. 

It feels like every start he's setting some kind of record. 

Joining company with some of the all-time greats. The fact this is the second time already where he's been pulled with a no-hitter is hilarious. 

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I have two questions. What does a bad Paul Skenes start even look like at this point? One where you say he didn't have it and struggled. Is it 5 innings 3 runs? These days you kinda take that from a starter, but for Skenes it's him getting shelled. If you're the opposition you might even consider 6 innings, two runs a win. Terrifying. 

My other question. If he keeps this up is he the NL Cy Young? No one is really running away with it in the NL and his numbers so far are fucking ridiculous. 

Sure he hasn't logged as many innings as other candidates like Ranger Suarez, Zack Wheeler, or Chris Sale, but does it really matter? If he gets up to 130 innings, but is this dominant throughout there's going to have to be a conversation. The writers probably don't do it because they're old and lame, but you'd just be robbing the best pitcher in the NL of the award that should given to that player. We'll see. 

For now, they better start Skenes for the All Star Game on Tuesday. Fuck it, give me Mason Miller vs. Paul Skenes. You want people to watch a game that means absolutely nothing? Do that and watch the ratings fly.