The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 4-0 to the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night, which means the two teams have split the first two games heading into the series finale on Sunday.
The matchup was expected to feature Pirates ace Paul Skenes, however, things have now changed after Pirates manager Don Kelly spoke to the media following Saturday’s loss.
Pirates Announce Skenes News
Skenes’ last start raised major concerns as he threw only 65 pitches before the Pirates pulled him and never topped 97 mph on any of his pitches.
While the Pirates have made it very clear that he has no injury, they are pushing back his start on Sunday to give him some extra rest.
He will now make his next start on Wednesday when the team hosts the Detroit Tigers.
Kelly: Paul Skenes will have start pushed back from Sunday to Wednesday.
Pirates want to give him more rest; not injury related. pic.twitter.com/sgEWWK0OGy
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) August 16, 2026
Skenes Addresses Last Start
After his last start, Skenes spoke to the media, and reporters asked whether he thought the team pulled him from the game too early despite allowing only two earned runs.
The reigning Cy Young winner made it clear he would’ve pulled himself in that spot as well.
“If I were the manager I’d probably do it too,” said Skenes, via Matt Press of the Pittsbugh Post-Gazette. “Wish I could have gone more, but it is what it is.”
Skenes’ 2026 Season
While Skenes has been solid this year, it’s not very comparable to his first two years in the majors.
He’s currently 9-11 on the year with a 3.88 ERA across 25 starts, which is the lowest mark of his young professional career.
Skenes has pitched 166.2 innings this year and struck out 166 batters, but he hasn’t thrown a scoreless outing since May 12. By his standards, that’s fairly uncommon considering how dominant he was when he entered the league.
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