Derek Shelton on decision to pull Paul Skenes during no-hitter: 'Internally, no one had an issue with it'

Derek Shelton yanking Paul Skenes from the middle of a no-hitter was widely condemned by baseball observers. Internally, there is nary an issue, Shelton insists.

Skenes tossed seven no-hit innings against the Brewers on Thursday in his final start before the All-Star break. Milwaukee had gotten deep into counts earlier in the game, bloating Skenes’ pitch count early on despite the lack of damage, but got more aggressive throughout the game, enabling the ace to go deeper.

But at 99 pitches through seven innings, Shelton decided it wasn’t worth Skenes staying out there, replacing him with Colin Holderman for the eighth.

Holderman immediately surrendered a hit and ultimately loaded the bases, but escaped without allowing any runs before Aroldis Chapman secured the win in the ninth. So, ultimately things worked out for the Pirates, even if the no-hitter didn’t remain intact.

With the dust settled, Shelton said Tuesday in his weekly appearance on The Joe Starkey Show that his call was not poorly received within the group.

“I think the aftermath is more publicly people talking about it. In terms of internally, no one had an issue with it,” Shelton said. “I talked to Paul after the seventh inning, (pitching coach Oscar Marin) talked to him after the sixth inning and he was starting to tire. He labored through three innings, he threw 61 pitches in three innings. Honestly when he was through three I was hoping he would get through five, then the Brewers’ approach kind of changed and they got aggressive. But no issue.

“Understandably, every pitcher we have is going to want to finish every game they start or go an extra inning or continue to go and I appreciate that. But in terms of the issue, he was tired, he knew he was tired. That’s what I saw, ultimately we made the decision and we won the game. Holderman came in and although he gave up a hit, we held the lead and then Chappy finished it.”

It ultimately shouldn’t have come as an enormous surprise Shelton didn’t let Skenes go back out. The Pirates have been incredibly careful with the 22-year-old, to the point that it’s unclear how heavily the team plans to use him down the stretch, even if they’re still in the playoff race.

Skenes throwing just six pitches in his final inning of work ultimately overshadowed the fact that he hadn’t had such efficiency earlier in the game. He would have needed to keep his pitch count down for both the eighth and ninth inning to keep from going north of 120, a road Shelton clearly didn’t think was worth going down.

“He was definitely not doing that,” Shelton said. “Going out for the eighth, he had a six-pitch seventh which was probably what saved him, he had 93 through six and he had 61 through three. So there had been some laboring in that game. And I understand he’s a big, strong kid and the situation he’s in, but my position and my job is to make sure we do what’s best for him and the team. At that point I thought he was tired.”