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.”
Rachel Doerrie is a professional data consultant specializing in data communication and modelling. She’s worked in the NHL and consulted for professional teams across North American and Europe. She hosts the Staff & Graph Podcast and discusses sports from a data-driven perspective.
The 2025 NHL trade deadline featured some major players on the move and vaulted both the Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars to the top of the Stanley Cup contender conversation.
How will those prospects impact their new teams? When will they play meaningful minutes at the NHL level? Teams and their fans are asking all those questions. Here are scouting notes on eight of the most prominent, including Calum Ritchie, Fraser Minten and Brendan Brisson.
They weren’t even among the 11 players assessed 10-minute misconduct penalties in the final frame. Six were from Buffalo, the other five from Detroit.
The final tally from the third: 136 of the game’s 150 penalty minutes, all but two of those either roughing, fighting or misconducts.
The scuffles, including a near-brawl with multiple simultaneous fights, overshadowed the fourth five-point night of Patrick Kane‘s 18-year career in the highest-scoring game of the season for the Red Wings, who stopped a six-game losing streak. Kane had two goals and three assists.
The Detroit lead was 6-3 when Tuch and Rasmussen faced off with eight minutes remaining. They posed with their fists raised for almost as long as the fight lasted, which was only a few seconds.
Less than a minute later, Detroit’s J.T. Compher and Jordan Greenway of Buffalo got tangled up. After the whistle, their scrum was very brief — but bad enough that both went to locker room with game misconducts. Greenway gave officials an ear full on his way off the ice.
The other nine misconducts came at the 16:51 mark, punctuated by one of the referees announcing a roughing penalty for Detroit defenseman Simon Edvinsson before saying, “All the other guys are going to have a misconduct.” The list included Edvinsson.
Buffalo had just five players on the bench by game’s end after Beck Malenstyn was sent off for roughing in the final minute along with Detroit’s Moritz Seider.
“There was a lot of emotion out there,” the Sabres’ Tage Thompson told reporters. “And we had a lot of frustration with how things had gone during the game.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
FRISCO, Texas — Newly acquired Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen says he’s pleased with where he landed while denying his former coach’s claim that he gave Carolina a list of teams he preferred in a trade, and the Hurricanes weren’t on it.
Rantanen addressed reporters after his first practice with the Stars on Wednesday. He played two games in Canada on a four-game road trip interrupted at the halfway point by a four-day break.
The star forward had a goal and an assist in a 5-4 loss to Edmonton on Saturday, then scored again on an empty-netter in a 4-1 victory in Vancouver the next night.
The Stars play at Central Division-leading Winnipeg on Friday before a Sunday visit to Colorado. Rantanen was abruptly traded by the Avalanche to Carolina on Jan. 24, then moved again with the Hurricanes worried they would lose the 28-year-old in free agency without getting anything in return.
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour told a radio station in Raleigh, North Carolina, this week that Rantanen told the front office he was only willing to sign his next contract with four teams, and Carolina was not on that list.
“I saw some things were said that I had a list of teams ready when I went (to Carolina), but that’s false,” Rantanen said. “Obviously, it was a big shock to leave Colorado, but I went (to Carolina) with an open mind and tried my best on the ice.”
The Dallas deal came together the morning of the trade deadline Friday, after Stars general manager Jim Nill went to bed the night before believing the sides wouldn’t be able to agree on a contract extension to complete the deal.
Rantanen signed an eight-year, $96 million contract with Dallas as part of the trade. The Hurricanes acquired promising young forward Logan Stankoven along with two first-round picks and two third-rounders.
“When I put the jersey on there, I tried my best and just decided just a little bit before the deadline that Carolina would probably get a better return for me if I would do a sign and trade,” Rantanen said. “That it would be better for their team rather than me being a rental and going somewhere to play. So that was the decision. I want to make it clear that I was open-minded in Carolina and really thought about staying there.”
Rantanen will have to wait to see how fans react to his return to Colorado. The 10th overall pick of the 2015 draft spent his first nine-plus seasons with the Avalanche, getting 681 points (287 goals, 394 assists) in 619 regular-season games. He has 101 points (34 goals, 67 assists) in 81 playoff games.
“Colorado was always where I wanted to stay, but I understand it’s business and they made a decision,” Rantanen said. “I tried my best in Carolina and I’m here now and I’m so happy to be here, locked in for eight years with a good team and with good coaches. I’m thankful for Dallas to have the trust in me.”
