Doug Eddings wasn’t going to let Paul Skenes walk all over him.
The umpire made a scene Tuesday night when he took off his mask and yelled toward the Pirates’ rookie ace after Skenes walked off the mound on a borderline pitch thinking he had tallied a strikeout.
Eddings seemingly yelled “outside” toward Skenes before explaining the situation to Pirates manager Derek Shelton in the first inning of the Pirates’ 5-0 win over the Cubs, in which Skenes threw five scoreless innings to improve to 9-2 with a 2.13 ERA.
“He started to walk off the mound like he thinks it’s a strike,” Eddings told Shelton before pointing toward the pitcher and saying, “you talk to him.”
Umpires are not fans of being shown up and pitchers walking off the mound in belief they threw a strike is an easy way to agitate the man behind the plate.
Skenes did just that with two outs and none on in the first when he fired a 99.9-mph fastball in a 2-2 count that missed the corner, although catcher Yasmani Grandal framed the pitch well.
The former LSU star hopped and took a few steps off the mound toward the dugout before stopping in his tracks.
Grandal held the ball for a second before firing it back.
Skenes smirked after receiving the ball but that smile evaporated when he turned after hearing Eddings, who had intensified the situation by taking off his mask.
Shelton and Eddings then had a brief back-and-forth that included Eddings pointing at Skenes, while Shelton pointed back at the umpire.
Play resumed shortly after and Skenes suddenly found himself in a jam.
The batter, Seiya Suzuki, singled on the next pitch before Skenes issued back-to-back walks to load the bases. He induced a fielder’s choice from Nico Hoerner to end the threat.
Skenes cruised from that point forward, bolstering his case for NL Rookie of the Year by collection six strikeouts while scattering four hits over 100 pitches.
Livvy Dunne’s boyfriend is in a battle with the Padres’ Jackson Merrill for top rookie honors in the NL.
“That was a tough one,” Skenes said, per MLB.com. “They made me work in the first one. Made me work a little bit last time, too. It’s kind of what they do.”
