Paul Skenes pitched a scoreless bottom of the first inning during his brief appearance as the starting pitcher for the National League in the 2024 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Global Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday night.

Not only did Skenes pitch a scoreless bottom of the first inning, but he also got to face Yankees superstar slugger, Aaron Judge. That almost didn’t happen thanks to Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, the acting skipper for the American League in the All-Star Game. Instead of going with the no-brainer decision to guarantee that Skenes and Judge faced one another, Bochy batted the Bronx Bomber fourth. This move (or non-move) led to two days of faux or real outrage by Pirates fans and the local Pittsburgh sports media.

Skenes, with 89 strikeouts and a 1.90 ERA, vs. Judge, with 34 home runs and a .306 average.

6-6 and 235 pounds vs. 6-7 and 282 pounds.

How could Bochy botch such an opportunity?

This was the matchup the baseball world wanted to see!

Actually, I’m not sure how concerned the baseball world was about seeing Skenes face Judge until the Pittsburgh sports media reminded Pirates fans that they needed to be outraged over the possibility that it wouldn’t happen.

Skenes was only going to pitch one inning, and if you thought there was even the possibility of him sticking around just to face Judge in the bottom of the second, Pirates manager Derek Shelton put that to bed during his weekly radio appearance on 93.7 The Fan on Tuesday afternoon.

Skenes quickly retired the first two American League All-Stars on non-strikeouts before facing Juan Soto, another Yankees superstar. Soto worked the count to 3-2 on six pitches. As for the seventh–a 100 mph four-seam fastball–it was called a ball, even if it looked like it could have been a strike. The home plate umpire may have been fooled; William Contreras, the Brewers’ dastardly catcher and starter behind the plate for the National League, was crossed up on the pitch and missed it. Had Contreras not been crossed up, he would have caught the ball just as it crossed the inside corner of the plate. Don’t get me wrong, it seemed to cross the inside corner of the plate as it was, but the ump may have been too distracted by the cross-up to notice.

Hey, wait a minute, Contreras was a hero! The cross-up allowed Judge to stroll to the plate for the huge showdown that the baseball world wanted you to see (at least that’s what the Pittsburgh sports media spent two days telling us).

How did it go? One pitch and a ground ball to third base that was converted into an out at second base.

Yawn!

But at least we got to see Skenes vs. Judge. Not only did Skenes get to face Judge, but he retired him on one pitch. Plus, there’s the matter of the walk to Soto that could have easily been called strike three. So Pirates fans can now rejoice in seeing Skenes retire Judge while telling themselves that he should have retired the first three batters in order.

Win-win.

It was too bad the National League lost by a score of 5-3. That’s right, in case you tuned out after the bottom of the first inning, eight more frames were played. Bryan Reynolds, the other Pirate named to the All-Star team, later appeared in the game and got a hit, but it was to no avail.

Red Sox outfielder Jarran Duran, who no doubt uses a Duran Duran tune as his walkup song, hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning which proved to be the decisive blow. For his efforts, Duran was named MVP, as the American League claimed victory in the All-Star Game for the 12th time in the past 13 seasons.

The National League may not have won, but the baseball world sure did thanks to the Skenes vs. Judge epic matchup.