The Pittsburgh Pirates spent most of the season in the thick of the NL Wild Card race, but recent struggles have left them 5.5 games back of the third and final Wild Card spot entering the weekend. Sharp regression from staff ace and reigning Cy Young winner Paul Skenes has been at the center of the club’s struggles. In a win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, Skenes went just 4.1 innings and allowed three earned runs in an 81-pitch outing. Skenes’ ERA is now up to 3.95 on the season, after posting a 1.97 ERA in each of his first two seasons.

After Thursday’s game, MLB Network analyst Dan Plesac did a phenomenal job of breaking down the mechanical issues contributing to Skenes’ regression.

“I always talk about how sometimes there’s a fine line between being on and being off,” Plesac, who pitched in the MLB for 18 seasons, said. “And if you watch Skeens, the way he throws, he gets very rotational with his upper half.

“And so he has a really good turn, but at times, he gets awfully quick. He gets more rotational this way,” Plesac continued as he demonstrated the issues with Skenes’ motion, “as opposed to up and down.

Former Pirates reliever Dan Pleasac critiques Paul Skenes mechanics. And very simply states why he’s having control problems. Question: If it’s this easy. Why aren’t Skenes and overrated pitching coach Bill Murphy make these changes ASAP??? pic.twitter.com/yI8oh1QFvg

— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) August 20, 2026

“And what happens, why he’s struggling with the arm side, is if you rotate in that hip and your hip and your shoulder start to come this way, the arm starts to drag behind. Okay, so it’s almost like he’s getting this rotation with his upper half, and his arm is in this position here. When (Harold Reynolds) showed that tape of the All-Star Game, if you would draw, like, take two pieces of string and draw a straight line from both sides of the rubber about a foot out towards home plate, you’d want to keep your body inside those two strings as long as you can.”

“And that was a great tape by Harold because in that All-Star Game he was rotating, but he was still staying on line towards home plate. What he’s doing recently, he’s rotating, and half of his body is like coming over that left rail. And so what happens, he’s running this way, and he’s trying to throw it to his arm side. He’s throwing away from where he’s going, right? So he’s lost fastball command.”

The good news for the Pittsburgh faithful is that Plesac, an MLB Network original, believes it’s a relatively “easy fix.”

“It’s such an easy thing to fix. It’s so minor that if you could just stay a touch longer closed instead of flying open early, stay a touch longer closed, and that way it’ll be easier for him to keep it on line, getting that ball in to a righty and away to a lefty.”

The Pirates aren’t the only ones rooting for Skenes to get things sorted out on the mound. The flamethrower’s high-profile relationship with former LSU gymnast and internet personality Livvy Dunne is at the heart of MLB’s marketing plans to appeal to a wider audience, akin to how the NFL has highlighted Travis Kelce’s relationship with Taylor Swift. If Skenes can’t turn things around, the Pirates will lose more games, and MLB might lose a pathway toward new fans.