The New York Mets defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-7 in their season-opening game Thursday. Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes didn’t make it out of the first inning, allowing five earned runs on four hits. He also walked two batters. Skenes was the victim of back-to-back misplayed fly balls to center field by Oneil Cruz. It was the shortest outing of the young Skenes career. The Bucs had taken a 2-0 lead to open the game when Brandon Lowe hit the first of his two home runs. Ryan O’Hearn also added a round-tripper.
The Pirates are off today and resume their series in New York Saturday afternoon at 4:05pm. Mitch Keller starts for the Bucs.