PITTSBURGH — It poured in the Steel City for the better part of Saturday. First rain, then walks and runs, then rain again.
But for Paul Skenes, and for Paul Skenes only, the sun shined in Pittsburgh.
Skenes, the best pitching prospect in the world, was both dominant and rusty in his highly anticipated major-league debut. His flashes of brilliance electrified an antsy PNC Park crowd. His premature departure angered it. The final line — four innings, three runs, seven strikeouts — doesn’t tell the whole story. Skenes, on a strict pitch limit, was very good. His fellow Pittsburgh pitchers were not.
Immediately after Skenes departed in the fifth, a trio of Pirates relievers implausibly transformed a 6-1 lead into an 8-6 deficit before escaping the inning. They surrendered six bases-loaded walks. The baseball never left the infield. In the middle of that endless, historically embarrassing frame: a 2-hour, 20-minute rain delay. It all made for an unforgettably bizarre day and night of baseball, one the Pirates eventually won 10-9, 5 hours and 16 minutes after it began.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that,” drenched Pirates skipper Derek Shelton exhaled after the final out.
Before all the mayhem, a steady spring shower threatened to dampen the proceedings. Through most of Saturday morning, ahead of the most hyped Pirates game in years, Pittsburgh was drenched. Until two hours before first pitch, raindrops pattered the enormous tarp protecting PNC Park’s infield dirt. Even Mother Nature, it seemed, wanted to keep the Pirates faithful away from anything resembling optimism.
But 90 minutes before game time, the downpour stopped. Members of the Pirates grounds crew hurried to remove the tarp and prepare the field. Pittsburgh’s picturesque skyline, nestled beautifully behind the outfield fence, revealed itself. Fans streamed into the yard. Upbeat pop blared from the stadium speakers. The MLB debut of Paul Skenes was a go.
At exactly 3:22 p.m. ET, a warm ray of sun ripped through the gray canvas of Allegheny cloud. Moments later, like a scene from a corny Hallmark movie, Skenes emerged from the Pirates dugout shining and resplendent in his crisp, white home uniform. In his right hand, a black ballglove with gold trim. In his left, a bag of contraptions and weighted balls for his warm-up routine. Flanked by a procession of cameras, the 6-foot-6, 235-pound hurler strolled across the outfield grass toward the home bullpen and into the light.
Another storm gathered on