Paul Skenes is used to scoreless innings. He’s not usually throwing to three straight All-Stars, though. That is, unless he’s facing the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Pittsburgh Pirates ace took the mound to start the game for the National League and fired a scoreless inning, retiring the side in order on 14 pitches.
Skenes threw 12 four-seams, one sinker and one splitter. The four-seam averaged 98.2 mph, 1.3 mph above his season average. He talked to Jordan Shusterman of Cespedes Family BBQ about his velocity after the outing.
“I was throwing every pitch as hard as I could and hoping that it landed in the strike zone,” Skenes said.
Skenes threw four pitches over 100 mph on Tuesday. He’s thrown seven pitches 100 mph or greater so far this season. He said that he’s always giving max effort, but it’s different when you’re only throwing one inning.
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The righty also received more run support than he’s used to. The National League All-Stars jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when Ketel Marte doubled in two runs off of American League starter Tarik Skubal.
The American League fought back from a 6-0 deficit to tie the game in the ninth inning, and the Boston Red Sox closer kept the game tied to send the game to a home run derby tiebreaker. The National League won the swing-off, 4-3.
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Featured image via Katie Stratman/Imagn Images