The Pirates made a rotation tweak coming out of the All-Star break, and it does more than just line up their pitching for the second half. It also sets up another awkward little detour in the Paul Skenes-to-the-Yankees chatter that keeps following him around.
Pittsburgh will start the second half in Cleveland with Jared Jones, Braxton Ashcraft and Skenes taking the ball against the Guardians from Friday through Sunday. Mitch Keller, who had been expected to slot in between Jones and Ashcraft, has been pushed back and is now likely to open the Pirates’ series against the Yankees on Monday.
The baseball logic is easy to see. Keller has been in a rough stretch, going 2-6 with a 7.03 ERA and a 5.59 FIP over his last 11 starts.
In that span, he’s given up 44 earned runs and 11 home runs in 56.1 innings. His final outing before the break summed it up: three innings, three runs, and a 10-5 loss to the Braves.
Pushing Keller back gives him about 11 days between starts, a built-in reset before Pittsburgh heads into a series in New York.
The change also helps the Pirates manage their pitching staff. Jones is still under workload restrictions after returning less than two months ago from internal brace surgery on his right elbow. In his most recent start against Atlanta, he was removed after six perfect innings and 77 pitches, even with history in reach.
Ashcraft behind him gives Pittsburgh another way to protect the bullpen. He has already logged 113.1 innings this season, fourth-most in the National League, and has become the club’s most dependable starter.
The first-time All-Star is 9-3 with a 3.49 ERA, 128 strikeouts, 27 walks and a 1.11 WHIP in 19 starts. If Jones can’t go deep in the opener, Ashcraft is the best bet to absorb innings the next day.
Skenes will finish the Cleveland series, and the Pirates will be hoping the version they saw late in the first half shows up again. Before the break, Pittsburgh had lost nine straight games he started, but he finished on a better note by winning his final two outings and allowing four earned runs over 11.1 innings.
That matters for a Pirates team sitting at 50-47 and only two games out of a National League Wild Card spot as the second half begins. Getting Skenes back to his top form could be a major piece of that push.
And then there’s the other part of this story, the one Skenes has been dealing with all week.
During All-Star week, he was again asked to live inside the idea that he’s just passing through Pittsburgh on his way to New York. When a reporter loudly called him a “future Yankee” during media availability, Skenes answered with a puzzled, “Who was that?”
Later, on the All-Star red carpet, he complimented the young Yankees-supporting Twinstripe Reporters on their outfits before adding, “Except for the pinstripes.”
Skenes has repeatedly denied any interest in becoming a Yankee, but that hasn’t stopped fans, reporters and media personalities from treating it like a foregone conclusion. Now, right after he spent several days swatting away that narrative, the Pirates’ rotation lines up so he won’t pitch at Yankee Stadium at all.
There’s no real reason to think Pittsburgh moved things around just to keep Skenes out of the Bronx. Keller needed the extra rest, Jones has innings to watch, and Ashcraft is a sensible bridge in between. But the timing is hard to miss.
Yankees fans hoping to see their imagined future ace in pinstripes - or even just against them - will instead get Keller, then most likely Bubba Chandler and Jones. Skenes will already have handled his business in Cleveland.
The Pirates were almost certainly thinking about wins, not headlines. Still, after the week Skenes just had, the result is a pretty amusing extra layer to a Yankees storyline he clearly wants no part of.
In Other News...
Pirates Get A Bullpen Arm Back At A Critical Time
The Pirates got a bullpen arm back at a useful moment Friday, activating right-hander Wilber Dotel off the 15-day injured list and putting him on the 26-man roster ahead of their doubleheader against the Guardians. Dotel had been working his way back through a rehab assignment, and the club is counting on him to give the relief corps another option as it navigates a long day against Cleveland.
Dotel is expected to be available for the second game, which gives Pittsburgh a chance to ease him back in rather than asking for immediate heavy lifting. The timing matters because he had opened the season in strong form before the injury, and the Pirates could use even a partial return to that version of him as they try to stabilize the middle innings. [Read more 🡒]
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The move fits the kind of one-day roster math that often comes with a twin bill, especially for a pitching staff that needs to keep one eye on the next game as much as the current one. Wilber Dotel is set to come off the injured list afterward, and the Pirates also moved center fielder Oneil Cruz to the 60-day injured list to clear the way for Curtis to join the 40-man roster. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Pitcher Just Changed How Rivals Have To View The Pirates
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Pittsburgh still has ground to make up in the standings, but the bigger shift is how opponents are talking about them now. They are no longer being framed only as a rebuilding club, and with a Wild Card chase still within reach, rivals have to account for them as a legitimate threat rather than a team just trying to hang around. [Read more 🡒]