Paul Skenes knocked out in first inning of Opening Day disaster vs. Mets

With reigning NL Cy Young award winner Paul Skenes on the mound and a host of offseason hitting acquisitions bolstering the lineup, preseason optimism was high in Pittsburgh.

It took less than one inning for that bubble to burst on Opening Day in Queens.

The Pirates, with Skenes staked to a 2-0 lead on newcomer Brandon Lowe’s first-inning homer, imploded in the bottom of the inning as the New York Mets scored five runs and knocked Skenes out of the game after he threw 37 pitches and recorded only two outs.

It was the shortest outing of Skenes’ professional career.

To be fair, Skenes’ struggles weren’t entirely his fault.

After issuing a leadoff walk to Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor and a softly hit single to center by Juan Soto, he gave up a routine fly ball that plated a run.

In his Mets debut, Jorge Polanco hit a dribbler in front of the plate that gave Skenes no chance to throw him out. And after a 10-pitch walk to Luis Robert, Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz badly misjudged Brett Baty’s fly ball for a bases-clearing double that made it 4-2.

On the next batter, Cruz lost a fly ball in the sun and allowed another run to score.

Neither misplay was ruled an error, so Skenes remained on the hook for all five runs in the inning.