NEW YORK (AP) — Paul Skenes thought he could get out of a jam in the first inning on opening day.
He never got the chance.
After giving up five runs and getting only two outs Thursday in an 11-7 loss at the New York Mets, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner got the hook from manager Don Kelly after throwing just 37 pitches. It was by far the shortest of his 56 major league starts.
“I’m not as upset about this for me, personally, as people would probably think,” Skenes said. "Because they did a really good job. It was an abnormal outing.”
The 23-year-old allowed four hits and issued two walks, including one to leadoff hitter Francisco Lindor. Skenes also hit a batter with a pitch, and Kelly wondered if the right-hander's fastball command wasn't up to his usual standards.
The five runs Skenes allowed matched his career high. The two-time All-Star also gave up five in six innings on April 8, 2025, against St. Louis.
Skenes said Kelly told him something along the lines of it's too early in the season to push it.
“He wants to stay out there and pitch,” Kelly said. "It’s a really tough thing going to get him in the first inning right there. The bottom of it is Paul’s health. You’re getting close to 40 pitches, yeah 37 pitches and Lindor had a seven-pitch at-bat that first at-bat. If he runs another 7-10, you’re into dangerous territory with the starting pitcher in one inning, so we had to make the move.”
It was not all on Skenes, who was hurt by shoddy defense from Oneil Cruz in center field.
Handed a 2-0 lead on Brandon Lowe's two-run homer, Skenes walked Lindor in the bottom of the first. Juan Soto followed with a soft single, and Bo Bichette lofted a sacrifice fly.
Jorge Polanco nubbed an infield single, and Skenes walked Luis Robert Jr. on 10 pitches. After pitching coach Bill Murphy visited the mound, Cruz misplayed Brett Baty's line drive into a bases-loaded triple, coming in a couple of steps before letting the ball sail over his head.
“(It) was one of those low line drives that it takes a little bit more time for me to read it, and they’re really tough balls to read because you don’t know if you’re going to have to come in or go back,” Cruz said through an interpreter. "It got in the sun a little bit at the end, but those are the ones that I will get better at, for sure.”
Marcus Semien then popped up to shallow center, but Cruz lost the ball in the sun and it dropped beside him for an RBI double that gave New York a 5-2 lead. Cruz is a converted shortstop who began playing center field in 2024 before becoming a full-time outfielder last year.
“That ball straight at him, he came in, got a bad read,” Kelly said. "He’s been working hard out there. He just needs to continue to get better. Then the one in the sun. He just lost it in the sun.”
Carson Benge struck out on three fastballs clocked 96-98 mph in his first big league plate appearance, but Skenes grazed No. 9 batter Francisco Alvarez with an 0-1 sinker and that was the end of his afternoon.
Mets fans roared as Skenes walked slowly off the mound toward the dugout.
“I felt good, but (we were) being precautionary,” Skenes said. "The pitch count wasn’t going to be super, super high today anyway.”
Skenes was coming off two starts for the U.S. at the World Baseball Classic. Kelly brushed off Skenes participating in that event as anything contributing to this outing.
Yohan Ramírez relieved and prevented further damage by retiring Lindor on a flyball with runners at second and third. Ramírez was the first of six Pirates relievers.
“Obviously not ideal to have a bullpen game on opening day," Skenes said.
Skenes made his second opening-day start as he begins his third major league season. He became the eighth starting pitcher since at least 1906 to allow five or more runs in less than an inning in a season opener.
“It’s nice to get it out of the way,” Skenes said. “Just flush it."
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly, (12) removes starting pitcher Paul Skenes (30) in the first inning of an opening-day baseball game against the New York Mets, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
The crowd cheers and jeers as Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes (30) exits the field after he was relieved in the first inning of an opening-day baseball game against the New York Mets, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
PRAGUE (AP) — Ilia Malinin bounced back from misfiring at the Milan Cortina Olympics by leading after the short program at the figure skating world championships on Thursday.
With a new haircut, Malinin showcased all that the spectators expected from the defending two-time world champion at O2 Arena.
He will go to Saturday’s free skate with a massive lead of more than nine points after a personal-best 111.29 score in the short program.
The performance showed the Olympic failure was behind him.
“It was a very supportive, very energetic crowd,” the 21-year-old Malinin said. “I felt every single piece of love and support from everyone out there. Just going on the that ice I had no expectations. I really just wanted to embrace the environment and experience the figure skating, and that’s all I really thought about the whole program.”
Known as the “Quad God,” Malinin opened with a quad flip and a combination of quad lutz and a triple toe loop. The only skater to have successfully landed a quad axel in competition performed only a triple version of his trademark jump.
French skater Adam Siao Him Fa nailed a perfect quad toe loop in combination with a triple toe loop plus a quad salchow for 101.85 points.
Aleksandr Selevko of Estonia was a surprise third after a personal best 96.49.
Japan's Shun Sato was fourth, while countryman Yuma Kagiyama — a two-time Olympic individual silver medalist — fell in a lutz attempt and was sixth.
Andrew Torgashev was seventh and fellow American Jacob Sanchez was 10th in his senior worlds debut.
Malinin helped the U.S. win the team gold in Milan and was heavily favored to win individual gold with an unrivaled program. His five-point lead over Kagiyama and Siao after the short program seemed insurmountable.
But in one of the biggest upsets in figure skating history, Malinin fell twice and made other glaring mistakes in a disastrous free skate, falling from first to eighth place.
Malinin previously said he succumbed to the pressure at his first Games.
On Thursday, he said it was “pretty difficult” rebounding from the Olympics.
“There’re always small things that can change the outcome of any performance,” he said, “so coming back from there it was really hard for few days. I kept thinking about it 24/7. I thought of so many different things I could have done differently to get a different outcome.”
Then, he decided to “to move on.”
"Maybe in a different universe I would have won the Olympics and maybe decided not to do the world championships but here I am. So, now I’m here and I can appreciate it and enjoy the sport of figure skating."
Olympic champion Mikhail Shaidorov from Kazakhstan was skipping the worlds.
Olympic pairs bronze medalists Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany led after the short program and produced a near flawless free skate to claim their first gold.
Hase and Volodin stayed on their knees for a while in the middle of the rink before hugging each other. With the result of 148.55 points for the best free skate for a total career-best of 228.33, they completed their collection of medals from the worlds after taking bronze in 2024 and silver last year.
“Tomorrow, I will wake up very very happy,” Hase said.
Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia took silver with 218.41 points.
Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud of Canada earned bronze for their first podium at the worlds.
U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov who couldn’t compete at the Olympics because Efimova wasn’t yet a U.S. citizen didn’t avoid mistakes, among them a fall by Efimova on a triple toe loop. Their total score of 202.51 placed them sixth.
Another American pair Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe registered two falls and dropped to 16th.
Olympic champion Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan did not compete in Prague after winning Japan’s first Olympic pairs title last month.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
Aleksandr Selevko from Estonia competes during the men's short program at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Adam Siao Him Fa from France competes during the men's short program at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Ilia Malinin from the United States competes during the men's short program at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Ilia Malinin from the United States competes during the men's short program at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Ilia Malinin from the United States competes during the men's short program at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
