Skenes shaken – Paul Skenes was tagged early at Rogers Centre when George Springer hit a leadoff homer. Toronto then chased him in the sixth with four straight hits, handing Skenes a 5-2 loss despite him retiring 12 of the next 15 batters.
For the first time in his career, Paul Skenes allowed three or more earned runs in consecutive starts — and Friday at Rogers Centre didn’t look like it would be his best early.
Just three pitches was all it took for Toronto to get to him. George Springer launched a 97.8 mph fastball over the left field wall for a leadoff homer, putting the Blue Jays ahead fast and forcing Skenes to work from behind.
Toronto would go on to win 5-2, but the headline moment for Skenes wasn’t only the early home run. It was how quickly the game changed after he appeared to settle. Even with some traffic in a 21-pitch opening frame, he kept the damage to Springer’s blast.
Skenes, the 23-year-old ace, then retired 12 of the next 15 batters he faced. He used his full array of pitches to get through the middle innings, and when runners got into scoring position — in the second, third and fifth innings — he didn’t surrender another run.
That stretch didn’t end his problems, though. In the sixth, the Blue Jays found another burst of offense. They strung together four consecutive hits off the reigning NL Cy Young winner. scoring twice and chasing him from the game. With runners on the corners and no outs, Yohan Ramírez entered in relief.
Skenes’ season story has still been defined by dominance, but this outing looked different from the version most people expect to see. Over his prior start, he extended his scoreless-innings streak to 20 — then ran into trouble again against Toronto, in a way that felt sharper than the early homer.
Just before that, his last two innings against the Phillies told their own story: he allowed five earned runs over the final two innings, matching the most he has allowed in a single game.
On Friday, Toronto’s offense made contact count. Skenes finished with two strikeouts and allowed nine hits against Toronto’s contact-heavy lineup. The swing-and-miss he usually generates wasn’t there; this was only the fifth time in his three-year career that he completed five-plus innings with fewer than five strikeouts.
The throughline is uncomfortable for anyone watching Skenes right now: he can grind through a shaky opening, he can erase opportunities, but when Toronto puts together the right sequence at the right time, even he can’t prevent the damage.
Paul Skenes Blue Jays George Springer Yohan Ramírez NL Cy Young winner Rogers Centre MLB
So he gave up a leadoff HR and then it was basically over? Wild.
I don’t even get how a pitcher can be “ace” and still get chased in the 6th. Like yeah he retired most after, but 5-2 is still 5-2. Springer really just destroyed him off 1 pitch?
Wait didn’t he throw like 20 straight scoreless innings before? So what, Toronto broke some spell lol. Also why did they bring in Yohan Ramirez if Skenes was “settled”?? Seems contradictory.
Rogers Centre is always weird for pitchers, half the time it’s like the ball just carries. That “97.8 mph” thing sounds fake too like who counts that precisely? And nine hits isn’t even that crazy… but they scored at the right times, so I guess baseball is dumb like that.