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Paul Skenes pulled early again — even after Pirates pushed back start

Nypost · · 406 words · By Andrew Battifarano
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What to know about Paul Skenes pulled early again — even after Pirates pushed back start

The Pirates gave Paul Skenes extra time to get things back on track.

Claims checked 11
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center80%
Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

The Pirates gave Paul Skenes extra time to get things back on track.

Why it matters

It didn’t work out that way, at least this time around.

Common ground

Skenes lasted just 4 1/3 innings and 81 pitches on Wednesday, allowing three runs on four hits and four walks with five strikeouts, though Pittsburgh did secure a 4-3 win over the Tigers at PNC Park.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/08/19/sports/paul-skenes-pulled-early-again-even-after-p…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 11 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 3
verified Verified By Reference 2
info Single Source 2
help Insufficient Evidence 2
schedule Pending 1
verified Verified 1
verified
Claim 1: “the 96.5 mph high-water mark he hit in his last outing — a 65-pitch effort — against the Marlins on Aug. 11”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided search results for this claim are irrelevant (discussing how to type the '@' symbol) and do not contain baseball statistics for August 11.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 Major League Baseball season (MLB) began on March 20–21 with a two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres held in Seoul, South Korea, before the regular season p…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Major_League_Baseball_sea…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025 Major League Baseball season began on March 18 (with a special two-game Tokyo Series), while the regular season ended on September 28. The postseason began on September 30. The World Series t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Major_League_Baseball_sea…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Paul David Skenes (, born May 29, 2002) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2024. Skenes played college bas…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Skenes
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 2: “Skenes lasted just 4 1/3 innings and 81 pitches on Wednesday, allowing three runs on four hits and four walks with five strikeouts”
SINGLE SOURCE
One web source mentions he threw 81 pitches and was pulled in the fifth, but the specific stat line (4 1/3 innings, 3 runs, 4 hits, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts) is not fully corroborated by the provided evidence snippets.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 Major League Baseball season (MLB) began on March 20–21 with a two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres held in Seoul, South Korea, before the regular season p…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Major_League_Baseball_sea…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025 Philadelphia Phillies season was the 143rd season in the history of the franchise, and its 22nd season at Citizens Bank Park. On June 12, the Phillies trailed the Mets by 5.5 games for the di…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Philadelphia_Phillies_sea…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Aberdeen is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeenshire, but is now separate from the counc…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberdeen
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 3: “Skenes did throw 21 pitches at 97 mph or harder”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
While evidence mentions Skenes' ability to throw 102 mph and a streak of throwing 97+ mph pitches, there is no specific evidence provided confirming he threw exactly 21 pitches at 97 mph or harder in the Wednesday game.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025 Philadelphia Phillies season was the 143rd season in the history of the franchise, and its 22nd season at Citizens Bank Park. On June 12, the Phillies trailed the Mets by 5.5 games for the di…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Philadelphia_Phillies_sea…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026 San Francisco Giants season is the 144th season for the franchise in Major League Baseball, their 69th year in San Francisco, and their 27th at Oracle Park. This is the second season under Pr…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_San_Francisco_Giants_seas…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — May 29 is the 149th day of the year (150th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 216 days remain until the end of the year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_29
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 4: “Manager Don Kelly clarified that Skenes was not dealing with an injury”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including a cross-reference from Nypost and other web searches, confirm that Manager Don Kelly stated Skenes was not dealing with an injury.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The Pittsburgh Pirates are giving Paul Skenes a short break amid a difficult stretch during his third MLB season. Skenes was originally scheduled to start on Sunday versus the Boston Red Sox. But Pira…
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/pirates-push-paul-skenes-next-star…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Manager Don Kelly has not indicated that his ace is injured, and Skenes has repeatedly maintained that he feels healthy. In baseball terms, though, something is clearly malfunctioning.
https://lastwordonsports.com/baseball/2026/08/12/paul-skenes…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Pirates manager Don Kelly made the move after the fifth inning, bringing in right-handed relief pitcher Yohan Ramírez for the sixth inning. Kelly making this move worked out well, as Ramírez threw thr…
https://www.si.com/mlb/pirates/onsi/don-kelly-addresses-pitt…
+ 1 more evidence source
schedule
Claim 5: “he notched 216 last season”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 6: “Pittsburgh did secure a 4-3 win over the Tigers at PNC Park”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web sources confirm the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Detroit Tigers 4-3 at PNC Park on Wednesday, August 19, 2026.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 1909 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1909 season. The sixth edition of the World Series, it featured the National League (NL) champion Pittsburgh Pirates …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1909_World_Series
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Donald Thomas Kelly (born February 15, 1980) is an American former professional baseball utility player and coach who is the manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He play…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Kelly_(baseball)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — James Richard Leyland (born December 15, 1944) is an American former professional baseball player, coach and manager. He serves as a special assistant to the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (M…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Leyland
+ 3 more evidence sources
help
Claim 7: “his first two seasons, in which he recorded a 1.96 ERA and 0.95 WHIP”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found for this specific stat line in the provided search results.
help
Claim 8: “has a 3.95 ERA and 1.14 WHIP across 139 innings this season”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found for this specific stat line in the provided search results.
info
Claim 9: “the four free passes he issued matched a season high”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim discusses other players (Dustin May) or general stats, but does not confirm Skenes' walk count or season high for the specific game.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — How does Paul Skenes compare to other starting pitchers? This section compares his stats with all starting pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 120 innings)*.
https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player/paul-skenes-18838
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Was it it his season-high in earned runs allowed, when he also struck out eight and walked none in seven innings against the Houston Astros on May 5? Or his season low in innings, which is six innings…
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/shohei-ohtani-the-pitcher-only-ver…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — May needed 84 pitches to get through the four frames, as he issued four walks while procuring four strikeouts. It’s a disappointing end to the first half for May, who has pitched much better as of lat…
https://www.nbcsports.com/fantasy/baseball/player-news/2026-…
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Claim 10: “Skenes, the National League Rookie of the Year and Cy Young winner in 2024 and 2025, respectively”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web sources confirm Paul Skenes won the NL Rookie of the Year in 2024 and the NL Cy Young award in 2025.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Cy Young. Rookie of the Year. 3x All-Star.Paul Skenes is 24 years old. When was Paul Skenes born?
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/skenepa01.shtml
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Pittsburgh Pirates Cy Young award-winning pitcher Paul Skenes was born today, May 29.Skenes won the National League Rookie of the Year award in 2024 and won the NL Cy Young award in 2025, when he led …
https://www.cleveland.com/sports/2026/05/todays-famous-athle…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Skenes, 23, the 2025 National League Cy Young and 2024 National League Rookie of the Year award winner, said Griffin was "gonna be the face of the Pirates for a long time" after he signed a nine-year,…
https://wrko.iheart.com/content/2026-04-09-paul-skenes-gives…
verified
Claim 11: “The right-hander was originally slated to pitch Sunday against the Red Sox, but was instead pushed back to face Detroit in the middle of the week”
VERIFIED
A web source explicitly states Skenes was originally scheduled to start Sunday versus the Boston Red Sox but was pushed back by manager Don Kelly.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025 Major League Baseball season began on March 18 (with a special two-game Tokyo Series), while the regular season ended on September 28. The postseason began on September 30. The World Series t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Major_League_Baseball_sea…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 Major League Baseball season (MLB) began on March 20–21 with a two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres held in Seoul, South Korea, before the regular season p…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Major_League_Baseball_sea…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025 Boston Red Sox season was the 125th season in Boston Red Sox franchise history, and their 114th season at Fenway Park. Alex Cora was the team's on-field manager, in the fifth season of his se…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Boston_Red_Sox_season
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.