Pirates push Paul Skenes' next start back 3 days; manager Don Kelly said decision is based on recovery time, not injury

The Pittsburgh Pirates are giving Paul Skenes a short break amid a difficult stretch during his third MLB season.

Skenes was originally scheduled to start on Sunday versus the Boston Red Sox. But Pirates manager Don Kelly announced after Saturday’s 4-0 loss to Boston that the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner will get his turn pushed to Wednesday against the Detroit Tigers.

Kelly emphasized that the decision wasn’t injury-related, but done to give Skenes more recovery time between starts.

“Ultimately, it was Donny's decision, but we had talked about it,” Skenes said, via MLB.com’s Aiden Stepansky. “And like I said after the last start, I'll have his back on whatever that is. I don't necessarily disagree with the decision either.”

In his last start, Skenes left after throwing 65 pitches in a 2-0 loss to the Miami Marlins. He pitched 5 innings, allowing 1 run with 5 hits and 4 strikeouts.

Of particular concern was a decrease in Skenes’ velocity, something he’s been demonstrating throughout this season. Against the Marlins, he averaged 95.7 mph on his fastball and didn’t throw anything over 97 mph. His average fastball velocity is 96.8 mph, down from the 98.1 mph he averaged last season and the 98.8 mph during 2024.

That has raised concerns over a possible injury. But Skenes said it’s more about wearing down during the grind of the long MLB season.

“Everybody deals with stuff. I think going through a full Major League season and not dealing with stuff, I don't know if there's ever been somebody who's done that,” Skenes told MLB.com. “So everybody's tired. Everybody's grinding, and we just got to keep going.”

Whether intentional or unintentional, the issues may also be attributed to a change in Skenes’ pitching mechanics, as Yahoo Sports’ Jake Mintz points out.

“Skenes is also significantly more rotational now than he used to be, moving more like a swivel chair and less like a windmill,” Mintz writes. “That's likely the cause behind his longer arm path; issues with the lower half are often the root cause of issues with the upper half. Because he's sinking deeper into his back leg, he's forcing himself to be more rotational to escape that position, which is in turn leading to the arm path.”

In his past nine starts, Skenes has a 5,79 ERA with 50 hits allowed and 59 strikeouts in 46 2/3 innings.

As a result, Skenes’ season ERA is up to 3.88, a big increase from the 1.97 ERA he posted last season on his way to the NL Cy Young Award. His record is 9-11, but he’s still striking out batters, ranking fourth in the NL (and eighth in MLB) with 166 Ks.

"It certainly can't hurt in terms of recovery, and you add recovery in for anybody and that's going to help," Skenes said about getting pushed back, via ESPN. "So I kind of wish it weren't the case, that I was starting tomorrow, because that's something I pride myself on. But in the long run, it's definitely best to just get some recovery time."

Wednesday’s start versus the Tigers may show whether the extra recovery time was what Skenes needs to get back on track.