"How can you not even fill one inning?" Rookie of the Year → Cy Young Award monster, lost five runs in the ⅔ innings of 'worst pitching in life'

*This content was translated by AI.

Paul Skins (24, Pittsburgh Pirates), a monster pitcher who dominated the Major League Baseball (MLB), shook his head from the opening game.

Skins started the 2026 MLB opener against the New York Mets at the away game at City Field in New York on the 27th (Korea time) and allowed four hits and three walks in ⅔ innings, allowing five runs and being withdrawn.

Skins, who joined as the No. 1 overall pick in the first round of the 2023 rookie draft and won the NL Rookie of the Year award with 11 wins, 3 losses and a 1.96 ERA the following year, played 187 ⅔ innings in 32 games last year, recording 10 wins, 10 losses, ERA 1.97 and 216 strikeouts, becoming the main character of the NL Cy Young Award.

So it was a more shocking slump. It was the first time since his big league debut that Skins was replaced without even one inning in the regular league.

Moreover, five runs were also tied for the most runs, and on April 9 last year against St. Louis Cardinals, the difference was large from the game on the day with five runs conceded in six innings.

Skins is the eighth rare case in history that an opening pitcher has come down the mound without completing one inning since 1906, and if he narrows down to the winner of the Cy Young Award, he also took the disgrace of the steel plate in the shortest time.

The fastball speed was fast enough to reach a maximum of 98.7 miles per hour (about 158.8 kilometers), but he struggled with control.

After the batting lineup supported two runs, it was shaken greatly even after taking the mound. Skins, who started nervously by giving up a walk to leadoff hitter Francisco Lindor, had a heavy hit by Juan Soto and allowed a sacrifice fly to Bobichet on the first and third bases with no outs, trading one run and one out count.

Jorge Polanco had an infield single and gave up a walk to Luis Robert Jr. and Skins had a three-base hit to Brett Barty. The changeup was driven to the center and led to a long shot without fail.

Bad luck overlapped. The follow-up batter Marcus Semian was induced to hit an ordinary fly ball to center field, but center fielder O'Neill Cruz completely missed the position of the ball and became a double. In the meantime, third baseman Barty also dug home.

Skins, who allowed five runs, struck out Carson Benji swinging, but allowed a hit ball to Francisco Alvarez and eventually the bench moved. Sends off the skins and hands the ball over to Johan Ramirez.

The number of pitches was only 37, and strikes reached 26, but the ball was far out of the zone, and the balls connected by hits were generally close to a real pitch.

MLB.COM, the official website of MLB, said, "The newly reorganized Mets replaced Skins," adding, "It was a shocking turnaround for the NL Cy Young Award winner, who only allowed five runs in the last six games last season."

In the end, Pittsburgh failed to close the gap and lost 7-11. Skins started the season bitterly with a loss from the opening game.

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*This content was translated by AI.