PITTSBURGH — The moment hardly looked too big for Paul Skenes.
The top-ranked pitching prospect in baseball had a promising major league debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates, working into the fifth inning against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday while offering a glimpse of what might be to come.
Skenes was charged with three runs in four-plus innings. He struck out seven, throwing 17 pitches of 100 mph or more. He also walked two and gave up a homer to Nico Hoerner in the fourth that just reached the first row of bleachers beyond the left-field wall.
As he walked off the field, the mustachioed 21-year-old received a loud ovation from a near-sellout crowd that included his more famous girlfriend, LSU gymnast and social media influencer Livvy Dunne.
Skenes became the first Pirates pitcher aged 21 or younger to record at least seven strikeouts in his major league debut since Nick Maddox fanned 11 against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1907 — 95 years before Skenes was born.
The Pirates teased Skenes’ call-up on Wednesday after he breezed through seven starts at Triple-A Indianapolis. His arrival gave PNC Park a playoff-like atmosphere, or at least as much as it can feel like the playoffs in mid-May for a team that hasn’t reached the postseason since 2015.
Fans lined up two and three deep behind the Pirates’ bullpen beyond the center-field fence to try to catch some of Skenes’ pregame routine. Nearby, the team store under the left-field bleachers did a brisk business, with some ponying up $200 for jerseys with Skenes’ No. 30 stitched on the back.
It has been a dizzying rise for Skenes from somewhat anonymous Air Force Academy cadet to College World Series MVP at LSU to first pick in the 2023 draft to possible franchise cornerstone. And yet he looked plenty comfortable.
Skenes, black socks pulled up high against his white pants, confidently strolled out of the dugout and bounded over the third-base line to start what he has likened to the end of one portion of his life and the beginning of another.
A significant portion of the crowd, including Dunne, stood while Skenes warmed up as “Cue Country Roads” by Charles Wesley Godwin blared over the speakers.
Then Chicago designated hitter Mike Tauchman stepped into the batter’s box, and hype gave way to reality. Skenes unfurled his 6-foot-6 frame and, with his funky delivery, fired a 101 mph fastball to Trautman that plate umpire Paul Clemons called a ball.
Six pitches later, Trautman was walking back to the dugout after swinging at another fastball — 100.9 mph this time — that he tipped into catcher Yasmani Grandal‘s mitt for Skenes’ first strikeout.
His second followed three pitches later.
Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki took a pair of called strikes — the second an 87 mph slider that left Suzuki shaking his head — before flailing at another slider.
Chicago center fielder Cody Bellinger worked a walk, but only after taking a ball that registered 101.9 mph, the fastest by a Pirates pitcher since Major League Baseball began tracking pitch speed in 2008.
Skenes worked out of the inning by getting Christopher Morel to fly out to deep center. A walk, a hit batter and a single in the second loaded the bases with one out. No matter. Yan Gomes struck out looking at a fastball, and Tauchman grounded out to second.
The next two innings were more of the same, with Skenes mixing triple-digit fastballs with off-speed stuff that remains a work in progress. Hoerner went deep on a hanging first-pitch slider.
Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton, who has stressed the team will remain mindful of Skenes’ workload, took the rookie out after his pitch count reached 84 following a pair of hits by the Cubs to lead off the fifth. The runners later scored when reliever Kyle Nicolas walked in a pair of runs.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said a few hours before the first pitch that Skenes has nothing left to prove in the minors, even with the outsized attention he has received every step of the way.
“There is no reason to put any ceiling on [him],” Cherington said. “It will be fun to watch that play out. That’s all I can say. I’m very confident that’s how he’s thinking about it. That’s the fun of it for someone like him and some of the other elite performers. It’s finding a way to find that next level.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Sovereignty outdueled 3-1 favorite Journalism down the stretch to win the 151st Kentucky Derby in the slop on Saturday.
Trainer Bill Mott won his first Derby in 2019, also run on a sloppy track, when Country House was elevated to first after Maximum Security crossed the finish line first and was disqualified after a 22-minute delay.
This time, he knew right away.
Sovereignty won by 1½ lengths and snapped an 0-for-13 Derby skid for owner Godolphin, the racing stable of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
It was quite a weekend for the sheikh. His filly, Good Cheer, won the Kentucky Oaks on Friday and earlier Saturday, Ruling Court won the 2,000 Guineas in Britain.
Sovereignty covered 1¼ miles in 2:02.31 and paid $17.96 to win at 7-1 odds.
Journalism found trouble in the first turn and jockey Umberto Rispoli moved him to the outside. He and Sovereignty hooked up at the eighth pole before Sovereignty and jockey Junior Alvarado pulled away.
Baeza was third, Final Gambit was fourth and Owen Almighty finished fifth.
Rain made for a soggy day, with the Churchill Downs dirt strip listed as sloppy and horse racing fans protecting their fancy hats and clothing with clear plastic ponchos.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Connor Zilisch, the 18-year-old driver already with two NASCAR Xfinity Series race wins, will miss Saturday’s race at Texas because of lower back injuries sustained in a last-lap wreck at Talladega.
Trackhouse Racing said Wednesday that its development driver will return as soon as possible to the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. The team didn’t provide any additional details about Zilisch’s injuries.
Cup Series regular Kyle Larson will drive the No. 88 in Texas. After that, the Xfinity Series has a two-week break before racing again May 24 at Charlotte.
Zilisch, sixth in points through the first 11 races, was driving for the win at Talladega Superspeedway when contact on the backstretch sent his car spinning, and head-on into inside wall.
Zilisch won in his Xfinity debut at Watkins Glen last Sept. 14. He added another win this year at Austin, the same weekend that he made his Cup Series debut. He has six top-10 finishes in his 15 Xfinity races.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The two teams suing NASCAR asked a judge to dismiss the sanctioning body’s counterclaim in court Wednesday.
In a 20-page filing in district court in North Carolina, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports opposed NASCAR’s motion to amend its original counterclaim. The teams argued that the need to amend the counterclaim further demonstrates the weakness of NASCAR’s arguments, calling them an attempt by NASCAR to distract and shift attention away from its own unlawful, monopolistic actions.
NASCAR’s counterclaim singled out Michael Jordan’s longtime business manager, Curtis Polk. Jordan is co-owner of 23XI Racing.
The legal battle began after more than two years of negotiations on new charter agreements — NASCAR’s equivalent of a franchise model — and the 30-page filing contends that Polk “willfully” violated antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in connection with the most recent charter agreements.
23XI and Front Row were the only two organizations out of 15 that refused to sign the new agreements, which were presented to the teams last September in a take-it-or-leave-it offer a mere 48 hours before the start of NASCAR’s playoffs.
The charters were fought for by the teams ahead of the 2016 season and twice have been extended. The latest extension is for seven years to match the current media rights deal and guarantee 36 of the 40 spots in each week’s field to the teams that hold the charters, as well as other financial incentives. 23XI and Front Row refused to sign and sued, alleging NASCAR and the France family that owns the stock car series are a monopoly.
NASCAR already has lost one round in court in which the two teams have been recognized as chartered organizations for the 2025 season as the legal dispute winds through the courts. NASCAR has also appealed a judge’s rejection of its motion to dismiss the case.
