Category: Baseball

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The moment hardly looked too big for Paul Skenes.

The top-ranked pitching prospect in baseball had a promising major league debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates, working into the fifth inning against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday while offering a glimpse of what may be to come.

Skenes was charged with three runs in four-plus innings. He struck out seven, throwing 17 pitches of 100 mph or more. He also walked two and gave up a homer to Nico Hoerner in the fourth that just reached the first row of bleachers beyond the left-field wall.

As he walked off the field, the mustachioed 21-year-old received a loud ovation from a near-sellout crowd that included his more-famous girlfriend, LSU gymnast and social media influencer Livvy Dunne.

Skenes became the first Pirates pitcher aged 21 or younger to record at least seven strikeouts in his major league debut since Nick Maddox fanned 11 against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1907 — 95 years before Skenes was born.

The Pirates teased Skenes’ call-up on Wednesday after he breezed through seven starts at Triple-A Indianapolis. His arrival gave PNC Park a playoff-like atmosphere, or at least as much as it can feel like the playoffs in mid-May for a team that hasn’t reached the postseason since 2015.

Fans lined up two and three deep behind the Pirates’ bullpen beyond the center field fence to try and catch some of Skenes’ pregame routine. Nearby, the team store under the left field bleachers did a brisk business, with some ponying up $200 for jerseys with Skenes’ No. 30 stitched on the back.

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Atlanta’s Max Fried and two relievers combined for a no-hitter through 8 2/3 innings before New York’s J.D. Martinez homered to spoil the bid as the Braves beat the Mets 4-1 on Saturday.

Fried opened with seven no-hit innings and Joe Jiménez worked around a pair of walks in the eighth before Raisel Iglesias retired the first two batters of the ninth. Martinez homered just over the wall in right field on the next pitch off Iglesias, who walked Jeff McNeil and allowed an infield single to Harrison Bader before retiring Brett Baty on a fly to center.

The Braves have not thrown a no-hitter since Kent Mercker’s gem against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 8, 1994. The no-hitter drought is the fourth-longest in the majors.

The Braves have the second-most wins and second-lowest ERA in baseball since 1994, a span in which Hall of Famers Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz pitched for the team.

Fried walked three over the first seven innings, throwing 109 pitches, one shy of his career high. The 30-year-old left-hander retired the first eight batters he faced before issuing consecutive walks to Tomas Nido and Brandon Nimmo. He then set down 11 straight before walking Pete Alonso with one out in the seventh.

Martinez followed and came closest — to that point — to ending the no-hit bid with a deep fly to center, where Michael Harris II drifted back and caught the ball at the wall. Fried struck out Jeff McNeil to end the seventh and was done for the day.

Orlando Arcia hit a two-run homer and Harris had three hits, including an RBI single for Atlanta.

Rookie right-hander Christian Scott (0-1), making his first home start for the Mets, gave up three runs and struck out eight in six-plus solid innings.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Atlanta left-hander Max Fried has not allowed a hit through seven innings in Saturday’s game against the New York Mets, and the Braves lead 3-0.

Fried has struck out five and walked three. He retired the first eight batters before issuing consecutive walks to Tomas Nido and Brandon Nimmo. Fried retired the next 11 batters before walking Pete Alonso with one out in the seventh. J.D. Martinez followed with a hard-hit fly to center, that Michael Harris chased down before running into the wall. Fried then struck out Jeff McNeil.

The 30-year-old Fried has thrown a season-high 109 pitches, 68 for strikes.

The Braves have not thrown a no-hitter since April 8, 1994, when Kent Mercker accomplished the feat against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The no-hitter drought is the fourth-longest in the major leagues.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Sean Burroughs, a two-time Little League World Series champion who won an Olympic gold medal and went on to a major league career that was interrupted by substance abuse, has died. He was 43.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s online records said Burroughs died Thursday, with the cause of death deferred.

USA Today, citing unnamed sources, reported Burroughs died at Stearns Champions Park in Long Beach, California, where he grew up.

The Long Beach Fire Department responded to the park shortly after 5 p.m. on a report of a person in full cardiac arrest in the parking lot. “We did all of our lifesaving measures, but we weren’t successful,” public information officer Brian Fisk said Friday, adding that the person was declared dead at the scene.

“It is with heavy heart that I am writing this message to inform you that yesterday afternoon one of our Coaches, Sean Burroughs, tragically passed away,” Doug Wittman, president of Long Beach Little League, wrote in a statement posted on social media Friday.

Wittman coached with Burroughs for the last two years.

“He always came with a fun & friendly attitude the kids were drawn to, a wealth of baseball knowledge that could get any kid out of a batting rut and humility worth emulating,” the statement said. “To say this is a huge loss is an understatement.”

Burroughs was a standout as a pitcher in the Little League World Series for the Long Beach team, which became the first U.S. squad to win consecutive titles. They won the 1992 championship after the Philippines, their opponent in the title round, had to forfeit for using overaged players.

He pitched consecutive no-hitters in the 1993 LLWS — with a then-record 16 strikeouts — and his team won the title over Panama, 3-2.

“Sean was a legend in LBLL and the baseball community,” Wittman wrote.

Burroughs won a gold medal with the U.S. baseball team coached by Tommy Lasorda at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

“We at USA Baseball are heartbroken to hear of the tragic passing of Sean,” USA Baseball executive director and CEO Paul Seiler said in a statement. “Sean was a part of one of our most beloved teams, and he represented our country on and off the field in a first-class manner.”

Burroughs’ father, Jeff, was a three-time All-Star and the 1974 American League MVP with the Texas Rangers. He coached his son in those Little League World Series appearances. Sean was born in Atlanta when his father played for the Braves.

Sean Burroughs committed to play baseball at the University of Southern California, but the San Diego Padres selected him with the ninth pick in the first round of the 1998 MLB draft and he signed with them instead.

He was a career .278 hitter, with 12 home runs and 143 RBIs with the Padres, Tampa Bay, Arizona and Minnesota.

He was named most valuable player of the 2002 All-Star Futures Game.

Burroughs broke into the majors as a third baseman in April 2002 with the Padres. He hit a game-winning single in the first game played at San Diego’s Petco Park that year.

After the 2005 season, the Padres traded Burroughs to Tampa Bay, but he saw limited playing time before being optioned to the minors and designated for assignment.

In December 2006, Burroughs signed a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners, but was released less than halfway through the season.

Burroughs was out of baseball for four years while struggling with substance abuse issues that “took away from my aspirations and my dreams,” he told the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 2012.

In November 2010, Burroughs signed a minor league contract with Arizona. The following spring he joined the Diamondbacks and hit .261, but was outrighted to the minors. After third baseman Melvin Mora was released, Burroughs was promoted back to Arizona in July and returned to the starting lineup.

Burroughs became a free agent that fall and signed a minor league deal with Minnesota in December. He made the major league club in spring training, but was let go in May.

From 2013-2017, he played for multiple independent minor league teams.

He appeared as an extra in TV shows “Knots Landing” and “Saved by the Bell,” as well as the film “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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