PITTSBURGH -- It was just after 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon and the queue to enter PNC Park had stretched across the entirety of the Roberto Clemente Bridge into downtown Pittsburgh.
Paul Skenes was 90 minutes away from making his fifth start of the season on his own bobblehead day at the park. While the two events aligning on the same day were entirely coincidental, it made the afternoon that much more special in the early innings.
The 23-year-old delivered four scoreless frames before a rain delay went into effect with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, with the Pirates leading the Rays, 4-0. Skenes struck out five and didn't walk anybody on 64 pitches (43 strikes).
Skenes didn't get off to the cleanest of starts, but quickly found his footing.
In the second inning, he allowed a leadoff single to Jake Fraley, before Cedric Mullins reached on a catcher’s interference and Richie Palacios singled to right. After a runner’s interference, Skenes struck out Taylor Walls looking and got Chandler Simpson to ground out to first to end the threat. He needed 28 pitches to get through the inning.
Skenes then needed just 25 pitches to get through the third and fourth innings combined.
In the bottom of the first inning, Bryan Reynolds reached via a two-out walk before Ryan O’Hearn drilled a two-run home run into the right-field seats. Two innings later, Marcell Ozuna hammered a two-run blast, his second this week, to pad Pittsburgh’s lead.
Skenes was removed from the game following the nearly two and a half hour delay.