What’s up with Paul Skenes? Plus, a three-homer debut!!

The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.Good morning! Keep an eye on your velocity today. Inside: 🧐 Skenes’ mysterious struggles 👀 The best MLB debut ever? 🏊‍♀️ Kate Douglass goes whoosh Disappointment: Skenes’ shocking summerOn July 27, the Pirates held the final National League wild-card spot. Today, they’re 6.5 games back and more or less out of the race. One of the reasons for their collapse is a shocker.Entering this year, Paul Skenes was as much of an ace as an ace can be. He pitched to ERAs of 1.96 and 1.97 in his first two years, winning Rookie of the Year, the NL Cy Young and back-to-back starting nods in the All-Star Game. This year, Skenes’ ERA is 3.88, but that barely explains why his