PITTSBURGH — Paul Skenes was bored and driving through the northern Pittsburgh suburbs on Monday — a rare in-season off day — when the Pirates ace caught the familiar lights of a baseball field out of the corner of his eye.
The next thing the reigning NL Cy Young winner knew, he was circling the parking lot, searching for a spot. Not long after, one of the brightest stars in the game was watching various Ingomar Little League teams practice.
The 24-year-old star tried to stay “incognito,” which is kind of hard to do in general when you’re 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds and one of the brightest young stars in your sport. Soon enough, Skenes found his way onto the field in sandals, a T-shirt, and a pair of shorts, a sure sign that the typically well put-together Skenes hadn’t planned on stopping in the first place.
Over the next two hours, he played catch, signed autographs, and remembered a time in his life when his relationship with the game was far simpler.
The impromptu practice went viral, as things tend to do when Skenes is involved. His girlfriend, former gymnast turned influencer and actress Livvy Dunne, shared it on TikTok. A popular Pittsburgh DJ did the same on Instagram.
Skenes has learned to accept that attention comes with the territory, even when he’s trying to avoid it.
“Should’ve worn some sunglasses and a fake moustache,” he joked.
Yes, Skenes is well aware of the core memory he created for the players at Ingomar Little League, about 20ish minutes north of PNC Park. Los Angeles Angels outfielder Garrett Anderson did the same for Skenes when the two briefly connected while Skenes was growing up in Southern California.
Yet just as importantly, with the Pirates in the midst of a losing streak that stretched to four after they were drilled 12-2 loss by Los Angeles on Tuesday — when the Dodgers exploded for 10 runs in the seventh immediately after Skenes departed — it offered Skenes a reminder of why he does what he does for a living.
“I went to watch some baseball, but you got to remember it’s just a game,” Skenes said. “There’s a lot of things that make it a business. It’s work. It’s a job for us, for sure, on some days more than others, but you got to remember you love the game and why you started playing it in the first place.”
Particularly during the times when that love can feel elusive during a difficult stretch like the one Skenes is in at the moment.
Despite limiting the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers to two runs over six innings and retiring four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani all three times he faced him, Skenes remained winless over his last five starts after the bullpen imploded behind him.
Is Skenes in a slump? Only in comparison to the remarkably high bar he has set during his rapid ascent to one of the best pitchers in baseball. His ERA since May 17 is a pedestrian 4.50, more than double his career ERA up to that point.
Things were a little better, a little sharper against the Dodgers than they have been of late. He recorded seven strikeouts, and Los Angeles swung and missed at more than 15 of the 103 pitches he threw.
Skenes’ fastball largely went where he wanted, when he wanted, and if Pirates second baseman Brandon Lowe can knock down a sharp grounder that instead deflected off his glove and into the outfield with two outs in the sixth that allowed Freddie Freeman to score and tie the game, Skenes might have exited with the lead.
Not that it mattered in the end. The 10-spot the Dodgers put up in the seventh made sure of that.
Still, Skenes is trying to keep things in perspective. The season is long. Every team struggles at some point. He is trying his best to remain focused on the process.
Asked why his fastball — which now sits more in the 97 mph range after frequently topping 100 as a rookie two years ago — looked better on Tuesday than it has in a while, he shrugged.
“Just a good day, I think,” he said. “Kinda comes and goes as the season goes. Just a good day with that.”
The lobs he threw to the Little Leaguers didn’t have nearly that kind of velocity. They might have as much meaning, however, over the arc of a season that can sometimes feel more like a slog than a dream come true.
“We’ve all played those sandlot fields when we were nine,” he said, later adding, “The game looks different when it’s 200-foot fences and there are no ads out there, no fans out there, just playing for the love of the game.”