Frustration is boiling over in Pittsburgh, and Paul Skenes made sure his message was heard loud and clear. Following the Pirates‘ 4-3 defeat to the Oakland Athletics, their fifth consecutive loss, the 23-year-old pitcher called out his teammates and the organization for a lack of execution and urgency.
Despite a solid start from Mitch Keller, the Pirates‘ offense once again fell short in key moments.
A three-run blast from Lawrence Butler in the fifth inning put the A’s in control, and Nick Kurtz later added a solo home run that proved to be the difference. A late push by Pittsburgh wasn’t enough, and the team now finds itself 1-12 over its last 13 games.
After the game, Skenes didn’t hold back on where the team stands.
“This is a wasted year if we don’t learn what we need to do and we don’t know why we didn’t go out there and do what we wanted to do,” he said.
“If those things happen, then it’s a wasted year, in my opinion. I don’t think that’s happening. I think, individually, as a team and as an organization, we know the adjustments we need to make. Now we’ve just got to do them.”
Skenes shines amid team’s collapse
While the Pirates have stumbled through a brutal season, Skenes has emerged as one of the few consistent bright spots. With a 2.03 ERA, 209 strikeouts, and opponents hitting just .199 against him, he has put together one of the most dominant seasons by any pitcher in baseball this year.
Still, wins have been hard to come by. Skenes sits at an even 10-10 record going into his final expected start of the season.
If he claims the Cy Young Award, he could become the first pitcher in nearly four decades to win Rookie of the Year and Cy Young in back-to-back years.
The Pirates, sitting at 65-89, fired their manager earlier in the season and have yet to find a rhythm since.
With the playoffs long out of reach, the team will aim to finish strong – but Skenes made it clear that simply moving on without accountability isn’t an option.
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