Pirates ace reacts to first time facing Red Sox rookies, pitching in Fenway

BOSTON — For anyone savoring potentially memorable firsts, Friday’s Red Sox game against the Pirates, a 4-2 win for Pittsburgh, had quite a few.

It was Pirate righty Paul Skenes’ first time pitching at Fenway Park, his first time facing Red Sox promising rookie Roman Anthony and obviously his first matchup against Payton Tolle, Boston’s 22-year-old lefty, who was making his major league debut.

The Pittsburgh ace talked about all three after the game.

It wasn’t that Skenes wasn’t impressed by Fenway Park or the Friday night pennant race atmosphere in Boston. He just blocks it out when he’s pitching.

“I don’t really look up during my starts. It’s cool. I’ve been here as a fan,” he said. “It’s a really cool environment. I mean, it’s Fenway.”

Skenes said he was more likely to relish the atmosphere on Saturday.

“The way I look at it is: Tonight I’ll work, tomorrow I’ll enjoy the environment,” he said.

Skenes got Anthony to ground out harmlessly in the first, but the pendulum swung the other way after that. Anthony stroked a single to center in the third and then crushed a 3-2 pitch for a leadoff home run to right in the fifth.

Skenes tipped his cap.

“He’s a good player, obviously, hitting leadoff for one of the best teams in the A.L.. What is he, 21?” said the 23-year-old pitcher. “He doesn’t look like a 21-year-old. … I was trying not to walk him. You never pitch trying not to give up a 450-foot home run. Sometimes it just happens.”

Skenes was aware of Tolle coming in and liked what he’d seen.

“I’ve watched video of him. The stuff is obviously really good,” he said. “I didn’t get a ton of time to watch him tonight. But it’s cool to see that. I’ll be watching him.”