A good argument can be made that Paul Skenes is the best pitcher in Major League Baseball. He has been in the big leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates for two seasons and he has been selected to pitch in the All-Star Game twice. He won the Cy Young Award after his second season.

More is expected from Skenes, much more. He has power, command, control and a vast array of seven pitches. The Pirates sent him to the mound on Opening Day at Citi Field to take on the New York Mets. Since the home team was sending Freddy Peralta to the mound for his first start with the Mets, it seemed likely that an Opening Day pitcher's duel would follow.

It clearly did not. Peralta gave up two runs in the top of the first inning on a home run by newcomer Brandon Lowe, and there was a brief thought that two-run lead would be enough for Skenes. That was not the case.

Poor defense by Pirates hurts Skenes

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The Mets were able to score five runs in the bottom of the first inning against Skenes. The box score indicates that Skenes was lifted from the game with two outs in the first inning after giving up 4 hits, 5 runs — all earned — and 2 bases on balls. Skenes did not have anything close to his best stuff because his curve ball was not breaking with its usual depth. However, he was done in by a brutal effort in centerfield by Oneil Cruz.

Cruz misplayed a flyball by Brett Baty and turning it into a bases loaded triple. On the next play, Marcus Semien lifted a pop fly to short center that Cruz could not find. Four of the runs that Skenes allowed came in on those two plays — neither of which were ruled as errors.

“You've gotta look at it for what it is, there wasn't a ton of hard contact,” Skenes said. “The batting average on balls in play thing was super high today, that'll go down as the season goes on.”