MiLB: Skenes dominates in Class AAA debut

Paul Skenes made his Class AAA debut today in Louisville, Ky., and he did everything to live up to the hype of being the Pirates' top prospect and the game's top pitching prospect.

Skenes pitched three perfect innings, recording five strikeouts. He needed only 15 pitches in the first inning while recording two swinging strikeouts, including this one on a 100.8-mph fastball for his first Class AAA strikeout:

Skenes was dominant in the second with 11 pitches, also recording two strikeouts, one on a foul tip caught for strike three and painting the outside corner at 101 mph. Skenes was a little less efficient in the third, needing 20 pitches. But, he still retired the side in order. In total, Skenes still only threw 46 pitches in three innings, just over 15 pitches per inning.

Skenes primarily used his four-seam fastball and slider, but also had a good mix of sinkers and changeups and added one curveball while forcing a total of twelve swings-and-misses. Skenes threw 21 four-seamers, with 12 hitting triple digits. He averaged 100.1 mph on his fastball.

The game was scoreless when Skenes was taken out of the game ahead of the Bats' half of the fourth, and the Indians wound up losing, 4-3. No matter what, five strikeouts in three perfect innings should be more than enough to take away from Saturday: