Paul Skenes strikes out 2, retires Aaron Judge in spotless All-Star start

Before their heavyweight showdown in last year’s All-Star Game, Paul Skenes dubbed his matchup with Aaron Judge “big on big.”

When the two towering stars of the game squared off Tuesday night in Atlanta, Skenes again got the best of Judge, same as their previous two encounters.

The Pirates’ 6-foot-6, 260-pound pitching phenom retired the 6-7, 282-pound New York Yankees slugger, this time on a grounder to second, setting down the AL in order in his only inning of work at this year’s Midsummer Classic.

Skenes threw Judge two pitches, the second being a 99.5 mph heater that he rolled harmlessly past the mound. Judge leads baseball with a .355 batting average and is second in home runs (35) and RBIs (81).

“I was throwing every pitch as hard as I could and hoping that it landed in the strike zone,” Skenes told reporters following his outing. “… It was max effort. I mean, granted, every game is max effort, every pitch is max effort. But yeah, it was, I don’t know, emptying the tank a little bit more.”

After the NL blew a six-run lead, with the AL tying things 6-6 in the top of the ninth, the 95th All-Star Game transitioned to a first home run swing-off tiebreaker, featuring three batters from each team.

In the debut tiebreaking format, the NL prevailed to win the game 7-6, clubbing four homers to the AL’s three.

Back in the first inning, before facing Judge, Skenes (4-8, 2.01 ERA) first had to deal with AL leadoff man and second baseman Glebyer Torres of the Tigers, who was hitting .281 with more walks (51) than strikeouts (46) entering the game.

Batting second for the AL was Torres’ Detroit teammate and AL left fielder Riley Greene, who, at the All-Star break, has 24 homers with a career-high 78 RBIs, tied for third most in baseball and the same number Greene had in 137 games last season.

Skenes struck out Torres swinging to begin the game, attacking him with fastballs, with Torres whiffing on a 100 mph heater on pitch No. 5.

Then, Greene went down swinging on another 100 mph fastball to conclude a seven-pitch at-bat.

Judge was the final out in the one-two-three first, with Skenes throwing 14 pitches, nine for strikes.

Skenes admitted he would have preferred three strikeouts, but two against some of the AL’s best sufficed.

“That’s what the All-Star Game’s for — every hitter’s trying to hit a home run and we’re trying to strike everybody out,” Skenes said.

Via Statcast, Skenes threw six pitches at least 99 mph and four that touched triple digits.

Skenes thus became the first pitcher in the Statcast era to throw four pitches 100 mph in the All-Star Game, per Codify.

With Judge hitting third, a matchup between him and Skenes, who was starting for the NL for the second consecutive season, was all but guaranteed.

Last year, it took a Skenes walk to Juan Soto to bring Judge, the AL cleanup man, to the plate. The result: Judge swung at the first offering from Skenes and grounded out to third base.

“I didn’t want to walk anybody — that (ticked) me off last year, so, I don’t know, it’s a learning experience,” Skenes said Tuesday.

Paul Skenes retires Aaron Judge for a 1-2-3 inning in the All-Star Game! pic.twitter.com/ca0xFMHzWL

— MLB (@MLB) July 16, 2025

Skenes and Judge have met only once during the regular season: Sept. 28, 2024, at Yankee Stadium, during an abbreviated end-of-year start for Skenes.

That day, a few months after the All-Star Game, Skenes struck out Judge on five pitches, ending it with a sweeper.

The Yankees played at PNC Park this season from April 4-6, but Skenes did not pitch in the series.

Paul Skenes' first strikeout at 100 mph ????‍???? pic.twitter.com/LKEanIW9tq

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 16, 2025

Paul Skenes stays dealing ???? pic.twitter.com/8TpWOjssGK

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 16, 2025

Like last year, Skenes pitched only one inning as the NL starter. Los Angeles’ Clayton Kershaw took over for Skenes in the second, recording two outs.

In 2024, Skenes became the first rookie to start the All-Star Game since Hideo Nomo in 1995.

Tuesday, the 23-year-old Skenes, per Elias Sports Bureau, became the first pitcher and one of five MLB players ever to start in the All-Star Game in each of his first two big-league seasons, along with Joe DiMaggio (seven, 1936-42), Ichiro Suzuki (four, 2001-04), Rod Carew (three, 1967-69) and Frank Robinson (two, 1956-57).

“It’s a huge honor and huge opportunity to be able to be in an All-Star Game, for one, and to start the All-Star Game is unbelievable,” Skenes said on MLB Network’s broadcast of the 2025 All-Star Game media day in Atlanta. “Glad I can stick with my normal routine and go out there and pitch. It’s going to be fun.”

Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, a 2024 Cy Young Award winner, started for the AL.

Skenes’ first All-Star start in 2024 brought him up against Cleveland’s Steven Kwan, Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson, Soto (then of the Yankees), followed by Judge.

Kwan popped out, and Henderson grounded out before Soto worked a full-count walk to bring on Judge. But Judge quickly became the inning’s final out, with Skenes throwing 11 of his 16 pitches for strikes in his All-Star debut.