Giddy demand over Paul Skenes' bobblehead morphs into frustration following another Pirates loss

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Paul Skenes grew used to the buzz that surrounds him a while ago.

Still, Saturday was different. Throughout an unseasonably warm spring afternoon, the mania that seems to follow the 22-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates ace whenever he takes the mound collided with the reality of the current state of his underperforming team.

A day that began with fans queueing up outside the gates of PNC Park more than five hours before Skenes delivered his first pitch — all in the in hopes of securing one of the 20,000 bobbleheads inspired by the National League Rookie of the Year — ended with a 3-0 loss and the increasingly familiar chants urging owner Bob Nutting to sell the team.

The irony this time is that the club's executives avoided the kind of public-relations missteps that have become all too frequent over the season's opening month.

Due to what Pirates president Travis Williams called unprecedented demand, the team pledged to make sure that every one of the 37,113 who waited in lines that stretched for blocks in every direction — including across the Roberto Clemente Bridge into the city's downtown — would be able to obtain one of the popular collectibles.

It didn't take long for some of them to pop up on eBay, though for far less than a one-of-a-kind Skenes rookie card that fetched more than $1 million at a public auction last month.

Asked if he thought the bobblehead bore more than a passing resemblance to him, the bearded Skenes — who is about 6 feet taller than the figurine — shrugged.

“It’s a bobblehead,” he said. "It’s not my thing.”

He didn't notice the growing crush of people outside the ballpark when he arrived for work, though he called seeing a sellout for just the second time this season “cool.”

“Wish we would’ve gotten the win,” Skenes added inside a postgame clubhouse so quiet the most notable noise was coming from the air conditioning unit in the middle of the room.

Those moments have been far too infrequent during an opening month in which the Pirates' play has offered a reminder that for all of Skenes' brilliance, it takes more than a phenom pitcher to compete against some of baseball's best teams.

Skenes did his part, limiting the Guardians to two runs and six hits across seven efficient if not quite overpowering innings. Making the first start of his big league career on four days' rest, Skenes struck out a season-low four batters, which he chalked up to Cleveland's approach more than the quality of his stuff.

There was just one true mistake, a 93 mph splitter on the first pitch of the seventh that dipped down and in to Kyle Manzardo. The left-handed designated hitter turned on it and sent it bouncing into the Allegheny River to put the Guardians up 2-0.

“I’m not going to lose any sleep over this outing,” he said. “Just got to score runs.”

Something the Pirates have not done with any sort of consistency. Five days after putting up a season-high 10 runs to back Skenes in a win over Washington, Pittsburgh managed just six hits while being shut out for the third time in a week.

The Pirates went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the most damning a two-batter sequence in the sixth in which first-and-third with no outs ended with Ke'Bryan Hayes taking a ball that looked outside for strike three, immediately followed by Tommy Pham grounding into a double play.

The unease that bubbled up during the home opener — when a plane flew overhead dragging a banner urging owner Bob Nutting to put the team up for sale — is starting to become a constant.

While there were boos after Pham's dribbler to second ended the scoring threat, a brief but noticeable “sell the team” chant curiously popped up after Skenes gave up the homer to Manzardo. It quickly died out, and Skenes was given a generous ovation when he walked off the mound after the top of the seventh following a performance that gave his team a chance to win.

Only the Pirates didn't. Just as they haven't in three of his five starts this season, or in 14 of their first 22 overall.

Skenes brushed aside the idea that frustration is starting to creep in, even with the Pirates dealing with the same issues — namely offense and spotty work from the bullpen — that plagued them during a late-summer swoon that dropped them out of contention in 2024.

Everyone from Nutting to Williams to general manager Ben Cherington to Shelton to Skenes has said it's time for Pittsburgh to win. Those wins aren't coming with any regularity.

The window to contend that the club expected to open in 2025 remains shut. And no amount of giveaways can distract the fanbase, even as their bright young hope continues to look every bit the budding superstar that he is.

Skenes brushed aside the idea that frustration is starting to mount internally, even as it ratchets up externally, even on days that begin with the giddy frenzy that seems to follow Skenes wherever he goes in full bloom.

“We’re just not executing at a high enough level and as consistently as we need to, to win these games,” he said. "I don’t think it’s a clubhouse thing. Everybody likes each other. But positive feelings, friendships and all that don’t win championships. We've got to figure it out.”

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Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes delivers during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians in Pittsburgh, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes delivers during the second inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Monday, April 14, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

Fans watch a baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Guardians with Pirates' Paul Skenes pitching on Paul Skenes Bobblehead Day at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Fans line up outside PNC Park for a baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Guardians with Pirates' Paul Skenes pitching and having his bobblehead distributed in Pittsburgh, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Cleveland Guardians fan Andy Lewis of Elyria, Ohio, holds his Pittsburgh Pirates' Paul Skenes bobblehead before a baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Guardians, with Pirates' Paul Skenes pitching, in Pittsburgh, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Saudi warplanes have reportedly struck on Friday forces in southern Yemen backed by the United Arab Emirates, a separatist leader says.

This comes as a Saudi-led operation attempts to take over camps of the Southern Transitional Council, or STC, in the governorate of Haramout that borders Saudi Arabia.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE rose after the STC moved last month into Yemen’s governorates of Hadramout and Mahra and seized an oil-rich region. The move pushed out forces affiliated with the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, a group aligned with the coalition in fighting the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Meanwhile, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen accused the head of the STC of blocking a Saudi mediation delegation from landing in the southern city of Aden.

The STC deputy and former Hamdrmout governor, Ahmed bin Breik, said in a statement that the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces advanced toward the camps, but the separatists refused to withdraw, apparently leading to the airstrikes.

Mohamed al-Nakib, spokesperson for the STC-backed Southern Shield Forces, also known as Dera Al-Janoub, said Saudi airstrikes caused fatalities, without providing details. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify that claim.

Al-Nakib also accused Saudi Arabia in a video on X of using “Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda militias” in a "large-scale attack " early Friday that he claimed sepratists were able to repel.

He likened the latest developments to Yemen’s 1994 civil war, “except that this time it is under the cover of Saudi aviation operations.”

Salem al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadramout who was chosen Friday by Yemen's internationally recognized government to command the Saudi-led forces in the governorate, refuted STC claims, calling them “ridiculous” and showing intentions of escalation instead of a peaceful handover, according Okaz newspaper, which is aligned with the Saudi government.

Earlier on Friday, al-khanbashi called the current operation of retrieving seized areas “peaceful.”

“This operation is not a declaration of war and does not seek escalation,” al-Khanbashi said in a speech aired on state media. “This is a responsible pre-emptive measure to remove weapons and prevent chaos and the camps from being used to undermine the security in Hadramout,” he added.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen demands the withdrawal of STC forces from the two governorates as part of de-escalation efforts. The STC has so far refused to hand over its weapons and camps.

The coalition's spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said Friday on X that Saudi-backed naval forces were deployed across the Arabian Sea to carry out inspections and combat smuggling.

In his post on X, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jaber, said the kingdom had tried “all efforts with STC” for weeks "to stop the escalation" and to urge the separatists to leave Hadramout and Mahra, only to be faced with “continued intransigence and rejection from Aidarous al-Zubaidi," the STC head.

Al-Jaber said the latest development was not permitting the Saudi delegation's jet to land in Aden, despite having agreed on its arrival with some STC leaders to find a solution that serves “everyone and the public interest.”

Yemen’s transport ministry, aligned with STC, said Saudi Arabia imposed on Thursday requirements mandating that flights to and from Aden International Airport undergo inspection in Jeddah. The ministry expressed “shock” and denounced the decision. There was no confirmation from Saudi authorities.

ِA spokesperson with the transport ministry told the AP late Thursday that all flights from and to the UAE were suspended until Saudi Arabia reverses these reported measures.

Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war for more than a decade, with the Houthis controlling much of the northern regions, while a Saudi-UAE-backed coalition supports the internationally recognized government in the south. However, the UAE also helps the southern separatists who call for South Yemen to secede once again from Yemen. Those aligned with the council have increasingly flown the flag of South Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967-1990.

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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

Southern Yemen soldiers of Southern Transitional Council (STC) at a check point, in Aden, Yemen, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo)