Skenes 'celebrates' Mangum's birthday with elaborate cake

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Paul Skenes has been Rookie of the Year and a Cy Young Award winner in the National League.

Apparently he’s also now a prankster.

Before the Pirates’ 9-7 win over the Red Sox on Sunday at LECOM Park, Skenes ordered and had delivered a custom, pirate-themed cake for Jake Mangum, who was celebrating his 30th birthday.

“He was just trying to be funny,” Mangum said. “It was funny.”

Here’s how it all went down.

Origin of the cake

It came from a local bakery called Sarasota Cakes, which is owned by a husband and wife (Tom and Michelle Brazen) and has been in business since 1997.

Reached by phone later, Brazen said Skenes himself didn’t place the order; it came from someone close to the Pirates' ace.

The idea became to “embellish” or paint a picture of Mangum having an ego -- which he most certainly does not. He’s notoriously one of the nicest and most accessible players in the Majors.

But Brazen was instructed to make it appear like Mangum ordered his own cake, which can be learned by “Happy Birthday to Me” written on a faux treasure map.

“We wanted to make him look arrogant and full of himself, which from what I understand is the complete opposite of what he is,” Brazen said. “I think everyone got a kick out of it.”

Along with a treasure chest filled with chocolate in the shape of coins -- more on this shortly -- it featured pictures of Mangum in a Pirates uniform, plus the Pittsburgh skyline and decals from where Mangum played college baseball, Mississippi State.

“The treasure chest to us was not as hard as some of the other things that we’ve done,” said Brazen, whose company recently designed an edible Blackjack table that doubled as a cake.

The Pirate booty that appeared was made mostly from buttercream and dried fondant, a pliable icing made from sugar, water, corn syrup and gelatin. It also included an edible cutlass also made from fondant, something Brazen proudly said was made by hand.

Creating the cake took between six and eight hours, Brazen estimated. Though he wouldn’t divulge the exact price, custom cakes in that range can cost anywhere from $600 to $1,500.

The most difficult part, Brazen explained, was the treasure chest.

“That cake was covered in buttercream,” Brazen said. “It’s very difficult to achieve that wood grain in buttercream. Fondant is a lot easier.”

The reaction

As Mangum finished his early work, manager of team travel Ryan Denlinger wheeled in the cake and placed in front of Mangum’s locker.

It drew plenty of laughs from teammates, while Mangum tried to joke that it was actually his 20th birthday.

Mangum later explained that it goes back to a conversation he had with Skenes at Pirate City, when Mangum talked about being an older rookie in 2025 and also still sort of a young guy, at least in terms of big league tenure.

Though he’s away at the World Baseball Classic, Skenes apparently set a reminder about Mangum's birthday.

“I was talking with Paul, and somehow birthdays came up,” Mangum explained. “I was like, ‘Yeah, man. I turn 30 soon.’ He was just messing around with me a little bit and was like, ‘Oh?’”

Mangum said he did have a piece of the arrangement before taking the field and enjoyed it. Other Pirates picked off pieces, too. Asked whether it made his birthday more special, Mangum said somewhat sarcastically, “So much more special.”

Mangum had not talked to Skenes about the prank but planned to at some point. The outfielder certainly wasn’t mad, and found the whole thing funny.

“I guess me turning 30 was a big one,” Mangum said.

As for potential retribution, Mangum said it’s on his radar. Skenes turns 24 on May 29.

Let the planning begin.

“I’ll try to get a good laugh out of him at some point this season,” Mangum said. “We’ll figure it out.”

Three takeaways from Sunday's game

Mangum wasn’t the only Pirate to enjoy a present. Billy Cook has a functional wrist, which represents a change for him from last season.

Cook, who went 3-for-3 with a home run, a double and three RBIs, broke the ulna bone in his left forearm in August. The recovery process has been a journey -- it took two weeks before doctors could determine that it was fractured. Then he tried hit through the pain, delaying the healing process.

After about a six-week shutdown, the bone located just below Cook’s wrist healed, enabling him to arrive at Spring Training fully healthy. The results have followed.

A year after hitting just .160 with a .644 OPS in 25 at-bats last spring, Cook is up to .333 with an 1.111 OPS through 18 Grapefruit League at-bats.

“I’m just trying to hit the ball hard and keep it simple so when I go up there, I’m just trying to put the bat on the ball and nothing else,” Cook said.

Speaking of Pirates who had a strong offseason and are reaping the rewards, Nick Yorke continues to challenge for a roster spot as a utility backup.

Yorke, who started at third, collected two hits and homered for the first time this spring. Yorke also showed off some agility that he worked to obtain this winter by fielding a slow roller and throwing across the diamond to get Vinny Capra in the second inning.

In the sixth, Yorke said he was simply trying to drive in a runner from third when he cranked a four-seamer over the center-field wall for his first homer of the spring. Yorke is hitting .304 with a .907 OPS in 23 at-bats this spring.

“I’ve really focused on agility and being able to move better,” said Yorke. “It’s going back to trying to find the best version of yourself. That’s what I’m trying to do to make a team.”

On the mound, Carmen Mlodzinski allowed two runs (one earned) and struck out four in three-plus innings. Afterward, Mlodzinski said he might tweak his pitch selection some but overall felt in control for much of his outing.

The splitter he added last year, along with a curveball that he has dusted off, continue to look really good.

"I felt in control the whole way through," said Mlodzinski, who threw 58 pitches (36 strikes). "I feel like I gave a few at-bats away, but I would rather be 0-2 and give up some hits than really running the pitch count too high or walking guys. Definitely something to build off of."