Paul Skenes' Box-Score Player Stats, Highlights vs. Tigers After Pirates Pushed Start Back

Despite having his start pushed back to give him extra rest, Pittsburgh Pirates star Paul Skenes' first outing in eight days looked like a lot of his recent performances.

Skenes threw 81 pitches over 4.1 innings against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday. He allowed three earned runs on four hits, walked four and struck out five.

Player	IP	Runs (Earned)	Hits	BB	K
Paul Skenes	4.1	3 (3)	4	4	5

One encouraging sign was Skenes' fastball velocity was in line with his season average.

Pirates manager Don Kelly announced Sunday that Skenes' start was being pushed back to give him extra rest, but there was no concern of any injury.

Skenes last pitched on Aug. 11 against the Miami Marlins. His stat line from the game was solid with five hits, two runs allowed (one earned) and four strikeouts in five innings of a 2-0 loss.

The Pirates pulled Skenes after just 65 pitches due in part to a noticeable dip in his velocity. He threw a total of 14 fastballs against the Marlins with just four of them clocked at 96.0 mph or higher.

Just for comparison, Skenes also threw 14 fastballs in his second start of the season against the Cincinnati Reds on April 1. Thirteen of them were at least 96.0 mph and the slowest was at 95.5 mph.

Skenes' average fastball velocity in 2026 is 96.8 mph, down exactly two miles per hour from his rookie year and 1.4 miles per hour from last season.

In addition to the dip in velocity, Skenes' command has not been sharp. Wednesday marked his third game of the season allowing four walks and 13th time issuing at least two free passes in 26 starts.

Skenes had a total of five games in the previous two years combined (55 starts) in which he issued at least four walks.

The three-time All-Star's ERA this season now sits at 3.95 after Wednesday's outing, more than double his 1.97 mark from his 2025 Cy Young campaign.