Paul Skenes rebounds after Opening Day disaster, even if Pirates ace still doesn't look his Cy Young self

Skenes looked perfectly fine against the Reds on Wednesday, but that's not the expectation he's held to anymore

CINCINNATI -- Pirates ace Paul Skenes bounced back from the worst outing of his career with a solid start against the Reds Wednesday en route to an 8-3 Pittsburgh win. The statement was a good one, even if not emphatic. Dare we say it was mildly disappointing? Fair or not, Skenes has set a high bar for himself and, in looking for a bounceback statement, this might not have qualified. 

The final line: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K

"It's a work in progress, still, but it's nice to give some volume and be out there for more than two-thirds of an inning," Skenes said with a wry smile after the game.

Manager Don Kelly said the early exit, at just 77 pitches, was part of the plan as they ease him into a full workload with their eyes on "the long haul."

Given the body of work in Skenes' career to this point, with an ERA of 1.96 entering the season in 55 career starts, the results were perfectly ... adequate? Acceptable?

For what we know Skenes is capable of, this isn't even close to an overwhelming line. 

It's probably an unfair qualifier to throw on him, obviously. For so many starting pitchers in baseball, this would've been a great outing against a Reds team that made the playoffs last year and came into this one with a 3-2 record. For Skenes? Eh. We're left wanting more. Where was the superstar performance?

There was a reason we had our eyeballs on this one in particular: Opening Day.

Skenes' previous start was a disaster, no hyperbole. There are times when it's possible to add a caveat like "for Skenes' standards," but this was a disaster of a start for any MLB pitcher taking the ball on Opening Day. He didn't last an inning. He gave up five earned runs, saddling him with an unsightly 67.50 ERA for the next five days. 

There is, of course, context behind that number, as Oneil Cruz in center field misplayed two balls. A great defensive center fielder, or even just better luck, likely would have meant Skenes only allowed two runs in the first inning. If we're going to play that game, though, we also have to point out that Skenes walked two and hit a batter. The ball that Bretty Baty hit to center that Cruz maybe could have caught was scorched at 103 mph. So, sure, there's responsibility across the board for Skenes' poor results, but he was far from blameless in the catastrophic start. 

This all means that heading into Wednesday's matinee in Cincinnati, all eyes were on Skenes for a different reason than usual. All eyes are on Skenes every time out, but usually it's just because he's arguably the most talented pitcher in baseball. This time around, the start carried that weight in addition to the whole "how will he bounce back?" question. 

He was fine. Not bad at all. Was he great, though? For five innings, probably. For the bar he's set for himself, the gut feeling here is not really. 

If Skenes were able to pick his opponent for a start with such heightened narratives, he couldn't have drawn it up any better. He has absolutely owned the Reds through the early part of his career. Heading into Wednesday, Skenes had made five career starts against the Reds, allowing just one run in 29 innings with 40 strikeouts against two walks. That's a 0.31 ERA and 0.79 WHIP with off-the-charts strikeout rates. It was the type of stuff that would get a Reds Wikipedia page "owner" spot changed from the actual owner (Bob Castellini) to "Paul Skenes" if the games had been higher profile.

If there's any reason for concern whatsoever from Skenes, it's that he wasn't that dominant this time. He had a 31-inning scoreless streak against the Reds broken. He previously had only walked two Reds in 29 innings; this time, he walked Reds leadoff man TJ Friedl twice in three innings. 

There's a discussion to be had here about expectations. After seeing Skenes nearly win the Cy Young as a rookie and then actually win it in his first full season in the majors, we expect the world from him. The Opening Day outing was utterly jaw-dropping, because that just isn't supposed to happen with Paul Skenes. The logical expectation -- or at least the optimistic one -- heading into Wednesday's outing in Cincy was that he would drop the proverbial hammer and completely dominate the Reds, especially given his past success against them. 

He didn't dominate and lasted only five innings. Sure, it's a step in the right direction after that last start, but this isn't what so many baseball fans were expecting from Skenes here in his third MLB season. The Pirates ace isn't listening to the critics though. He's focused.

"Nothing matters except for the game," Skenes said Wednesday.

That's just how it goes for the most super of the superstars in sports. Being merely great isn't good enough. Skenes here in Year 3 is going to find out if things continue on this path of merely being very good, especially after starting in such a deep hole with that awful first start.