Pirates Ace Paul Skenes Reflects On ‘Unbelievable’ World Baseball Classic Experience
· Yahoo Sports
This is Paul Skenes’ first World Baseball Classic, and he’s making the most of it.
Visit xsportfeed.life for more information.
Last Monday, he twirled four shutout innings against Mexico in his stellar WBC debut, pitching USA to victory. On Sunday, he turned in another dominant outing versus the Dominican Republic, holding their loaded lineup to one run over 4 1/3 gutsy innings in USA’s tense 2-1 victory.
After the game, Skenes spoke with MLB Network about his outing and the tournament so far.
“Going in, that’s all you can think about is just executing,” Skenes said. “I came out of the game, and Skubal was like, ‘That’s the best lineup you’re ever gonna pitch against’…Just going out there and executing. That’s all you can do, that’s all you can focus on.”
Paul Skenes pitched Team USA to the #WorldBaseballClassic Championship game!
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) March 16, 2026
The @Pirates ace joined Greg and Harold after the game to discuss tonight’s 2-1 win over Team Dominican Republic. pic.twitter.com/agPd9oLiQE
The reigning NL Cy Young winner added that he used everything in his arsenal against the DR and was “a little bit sloppy at times,” allowing a long solo homer to Junior Caminero in the second inning and getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth.
But in the end, Skenes limited the damage and got through it, earning the win for his efforts. He ends the tournament 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA, nine strikeouts and only one walk in 8 1/3 innings, living up to the hype in his first WBC.
Now, Skenes can only sit back and watch as USA goes for the championship on Tuesday, which would be its first title in nine years. The 23-year-old sounded sad that the tournament is coming to an end but seems grateful for the unique experience.
“It’s been unbelievable, just sharing a clubhouse with all these guys for two weeks,” Skenes said. “I don’t want this to be the last game because I wanna be around these guys a little bit longer…It’s just an unbelievable group of guys.”
After Tuesday’s finale, Skenes will return to Pirates spring training in Bradenton, Florida, to make his final preparations for his Opening Day start against the New York Mets next week.
More Pirates: Pirates Ace Paul Skenes Gives Honest Assessment Of Tense Win Over Dominican Republic
The post Pirates Ace Paul Skenes Reflects On ‘Unbelievable’ World Baseball Classic Experience appeared first on SportsNet Pittsburgh.