Umpire Has Furious Reaction to Pirates' Paul Skenes
PITTSBURGH -- During his start against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night, Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes inadvertently caused tensions to flare between manager Derek Shelton and home plate umpire Doug Eddings.
With two outs and no one on in the bottom of the first inning, the Pirates ace delivered a 99.9 mile-per-hour four-seam fastball to Seiya Suzuki in a 2-2 count that Eddings deemed missed the zone.
After throwing the pitch, Skenes took a few quick steps towards the dugout as though he was expecting a called strike three. Eddings took exception to his gesture, however, taking off his mask and yelling that it was outside, drawing a nod from Skenes.
Eddings and Shelton then exchanged words, a portion of which was picked up by the broadcast microphones.
"He's not going to walk off the mound like he thinks it's a strike," Eddings said. "You talk to him! You talk to him!"
"I'll tak to you!" Shelton responded.
It was a bizarre encounter on all fronts that easily could've been avoided, but so is the nature of baseball. Skenes' actions were harmless, and Eddings overreacted to what he took as a sign of disrespect from the pitcher.
Suzuki proceeded to single on the very next offering, though he wouldn't end up crossing the plate. Skenes worked around four hits and four walks to deliver a scoreless outing over five innings in a 5-0 Pirates win.
His fourth-inning punch out of Michael Busch was his 142nd of the season, tying the franchise record for most by a rookie pitcher since 1900.
Skenes has now allowed just two earned runs over his past three outings, lowering his ERA to 2.13 across 19 starts on the year. He remains in a tight battle for National League Rookie of the Year honors with the San Diego Padres' Jackson Merrill, though he may have reestablished himself as the favorite amidst his recent run.
JACK MARKOWSKI