Baseball in Altoona, Pennsylvania has been one of the city’s highlight activities since 1999, when the Curve first opened. The Curve have always been a Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate, spending their entire 25 year tenure as the team’s Double-A affiliate. In this 25 year tenure, the Curve has seen it’s fair share of historic moments, whether it be for the team, or against the team. Some of these historic moments include hosting Stephen Strasburg’s professional debut, hosting multiple first round picks in one lineup in 2022, and multiple sellouts over the years. But, this past week, the Curve was able to check off two more historic boxes, as they hosted their largest crowd in their history to watch MiLB’s most hyped pitching prospect Paul Skenes make his Double-A debut. I was lucky enough to be in attendance for all of the games during “Skemania”, and in today’s article, I’m going to take you behind the scenes during this historic week.

Beginning of the Week: Skenes’ Arrival

Skenes’ promotion to Altoona would become official on Monday, before the games would start for the week. Skenes would make his much awaited arrival early Tuesday morning, where he would first wear his new, red, Altoona threads. Although his much anticipated debut wasn’t set to occur until Saturday, fans were beyond ecstatic to see Skenes happy in his Altoona uniform. Skenes would greet every person at his arrival, including a personal friend of mine, Brenden Grimminger. Grimminger, a photographer for the Curve, would be lucky enough to photograph Skenes’ arrival, and him first dawning the Curve threads. Grimminger would tell me all about the kindness and respectfulness of Paul Skenes before I had the chance to meet him, and I was amazed.

“His arrival was very exhilarating, everyone in the building at the time knew he was coming, and we were all very eager for the moment. He arrived with a big smile, and was very welcoming in the new environment. He openly introduced himself to everyone he met, even shaking hands and talking to them. It was an honor to be able to capture the first moments of Paul’s arrival at Altoona, and to be a small part of what should be an incredible career ahead. The best part about meeting him was how generous he was, and how he treated everyone with respect. Paul personally introducing himself and shaking my hand was a sign of his appreciation for others.”

Brenden Grimminger on the arrival of Paul Skenes, and what it meant to capture his arrival.

After the arrival where Skenes would get all his pictures taken, Skenes would join the team for their first game of their homestand versus the Akron RubberDucks, a past rival of the Curve’s. Although Skenes wasn’t allowed to interact with fans during his first game, the crowd definitely showed out for Paul, as he Curve would open the homestand with a 9-2 victory against Akron. This game would be one of the more action packed games of the week, as Nick Dombkowski would pick up a win in a game where he would strike out six across five innings pitched. Omar Cruz and Justin Meis would both pitch well in relief to help the Curve secure the game. On the offensive side of things, Matt Gorski’s first inning homer, (His 15th of the year.) and Mike Jarvis’ homer in the second would help carry the boats offensively. These homers, alongside RBI doubles from Jacob Gonzalez and Jackson Glenn and an RBI single from Eli Wilson would provide all the help the Curve would need to secure the victory against Akron. With the crowd excited and ready for the homestand, and the Curve ahead in the series, Wednesday would be right around the corner, and would prove to be a huge night in Curve, PA.

With Wednesday finally here, Skenes would now be able to interact with fans, and he would make a huge impact through these first interactions as well. This would be the first of my many interactions with Paul as well, and I have nothing but good things to say about him. Skenes would be called out of the dugout to come see fans, and he would sign many, many autographs for those who asked him, including myself. Skenes would sign a total of 5 separate times for people who wanted to meet him, and all of the times he would make his presence known by introducing himself, and chatting with his fans. Me and Paul would chat about both the roller coaster in right field, as well as some of his time spent in LSU. Paul was truly one of the kindest, and nicest players I’ve ever met in Altoona. In addition, as the week continued, it seems like the crowds progressively got larger as Skenes’ debut inched closer. But, Wednesday’s game would be another thrilling 8-1 victory for Altoona. Altoona’s victory would be highlighted by yet another strong start by Altoona starter Aaron Shortridge in the month of August, where he would go five innings, while striking out three, and allowing just one earned run. Will Matthiessen would begin the scoring with an RBI double in the second, as well as an RBI single later in the game. The rest of the scoring would come from an RBI single from Matt Frazier, an RBI double from Andres Alvarez, and a moonshot home run from Joe Perez in the 7th inning. In addition, the Curve would also score on an error by Juan Brito. With this thrilling victory for the fans in Altoona, the Curve would now take a strong series lead of 2-0 as they moved into Thursday’s game.

Middle of the Week: Skenes Continues to Greet Fans, as the Curve Kept Winning

As I previously mentioned, the Curve would be heading into Thursday’s game with a commanding 2-0 series lead. Starting on Thursday, I would also be joined by my fellow BSBWrites writer Cadeyn McCrory. Cadeyn and myself would also get the opportunity to chat with Paul again, as he signed autographs for almost a half hour before first pitch. Me and Cadeyn would speak to Paul about how he liked Altoona so far, as well as many other things. Again, Paul Skenes has been one of the kindest and most genuine players I’ve seen in a long time, and I cannot put into words just how polite and respectful he was. Even though he was probably exhausted with signing so many autographs and greeting so many fans, he never once let it show. Check out the quote below from Cadeyn regarding Paul Skenes.

“When it came to meeting him personally, he was so humble and didn’t seem to let the fame of the crowds get to him. He seemed to love interacting with the right fans, and he told us all about himself, including his favorite flavor of seeds, which happens to be Taco Bell. He seems to be a great teammate, and really cares about the rest of the team. You could tell just how excited fans were for Saturday as well, due to the massive amounts of hype amongst the crowd, and to be a part of it was truly spectacular.”

BSBWrites writer and co-founder Cadeyn McCrory on Paul Skenes.

As for Thursday’s game, the Altoona Curve would win yet another game, but this time it would be a walk-off thriller. The Curve would see a strong start from newly acquired starting pitcher Jackson Wolf, where he would last five innings of one hit, shutout baseball, while also striking out five batters. The Curve would also receive strong preformances from their bullpen, as Michell Miliano, Cameron Junker, and Tahnaj Thomas would combine for five innings, four strikeouts, four hits, and one run. Going into the bottom of the tenth inning, the Curve would be looking to make some magic happen, and they sure did. Tsung-Che Cheng would lay down a sacrifice bunt which would tie the game at one a piece, and later that inning, Andres Alvarez would provide the winning run on a sacrifice fly to win the game 2-1. With a thrilling, walk-off win in the books, the Curve had now extended their series lead to 3-0. While the Curve scored just 2 runs, they recorded 9 hits, in which 3 of them belonged to Jackson Glenn, the player who stood out to me in this game. Glenn would go 3-5 from the leadoff spot in the order, while also legging out a triple. But with Thursday behind them, the Curve moved to Friday, where the Curve would see a masterful Bump-Day.

Going into Friday 3-0 in the series, the Curve looked to continue their hot stretch, and move to 4-0 in the series. However, this would not be the case. With both me and Cadeyn in attendance for our friend Anthony Solometo’s start day, the game had endless potential. Once again, the crowd size grew despite a very large high school football game taking place that same night. Another thing that happened once again? Paul Skenes signed autographs again, this time also for about a half an hour. Me and Cadeyn continued to speak to Paul once again, just to wish him good luck the next day, and to thank him for being so kind all week. After greeting Paul and Anthony, Cadeyn and I took our seats for the game ahead, and boy was it exciting. The Curve would be put in prime position to take home their fourth victory of the series after a strong start from Anthony Solometo, where he would go five innings, striking out five, and allowing two runs on two hits. However, the bullpen would struggle, as Justin Meis, and Grant Ford would allow a combined 3 runs, and put the Curve in a harder position to succeed. As far as the Curve offensively, they would score in the first inning after a sacrifice fly by Matt Gorski, and again in the fourth inning on a home run by Joe Perez. Unfortunately, the Curve would also allow a game tying home run in the fifth inning, which made the game a whole low more interesting. However, in the sixth inning, Matt Gorski would strike once again, with a two-run home run, which put the Curve up by two. Unfortunately, after a two-run double by Aaron Bracho tied the game in the eighth inning, Connor Kokx would go yard in the ninth to put Akron up by one going into the bottom of the ninth. With a runner in scoring position in the ninth, the Curve would be unable to capitalize, and would fall short 5-4. With a lack of offense to back up Anthony Solometo’s strong start, that would end the Curve’s win streak versus Akron, and the series would become 3-1. However, the most exciting day of the week was just around the corner, as it was almost time for Skenes to make his long awaited Curve debut.

Saturday: Skenes’ Debut

With Saturday now here, it was finally time for Paul Skenes to make his long awaited debut as a member of the Altoona Curve. The Curve would announce a total sell out for Saturday’s game, and the team even decided to open the gates at 4:30, which is a half an hour early than usual. With major media coverage from all across the nation, as well as being featured as MLB Pipeline’s free game of the day, it was go time. Waiting for the players before the game felt very similar to a Major League Baseball crowd, and you couldn’t get near Skenes as he was warming up. As he walked out with his Airpods in, everyone in attendance knew the superstar was locked in, and ready to go.

The image above shows the mass amount of people waiting for Paul to warm up. A typical crowd looks nothing like this.

Most fans were in their seats at about 20 minutes before first pitch, including Livvy Dunne, Skene’s girlfriend, who was seated in her very own box seat. Following a very nice National Anthem performance, and a warm welcome by the Curve crowd, Skenes took the mound. This warm welcome from the crowd was one of the loudest moments I have heard inside the stadium. With a standing room only crowd all looking on, it was time for Skenes to begin pitching. Skenes who was set to pitch 3 innings or 30 pitches, made it just 0.2 innings pitched. Skenes would surrender three hits, two walks, and four earned runs, while also recording his first pair of Double-A strikeouts as well. Although the umpiring wasn’t fantastic, it doesn’t show in the final box score. Even though this performance may not have been what many had hoped to see from Skenes, Paul maintained a good outlook on the event, saying that, “A bad outing is a bad outing.” he would also add, “It’s just baseball. Obviously, I want to go out there and win and pitch as best as I can every outing, and I’m going to do everything to prepare to do that for every outing. But, it is baseball. The beautiful thing is it’s never as bad as it seems, and it’s never as good as it seems.” However, Curve fans would still show out for their team, as they still had a chance to win this game.

After allowing four runs in the first inning, the Curve would immediately answer back with two runs in the bottom of the first, coming on a Joe Perez single, and a Matt Frazier double. The Curve would blank the RubberDucks in the top of the second, and then would get to work in the bottom of the second trying to make up for the deficit, and give their fans something to cheer about. Will Matthiessen would single in a run to make it 4-3, which was followed up by a Jackson Glenn single to drive in two, giving the Curve their first lead of the night. However, both teams would get solid relief appearances from their pitchers, as there would not be another run scored before the seventh inning. After an RBI groundout from Joe Naranjo, as well as a two run single by Michael Berglund to make it 7-5, Altoona would answer back in a big way. This would come on a two-run homer from Joe Perez in the bottom of the seventh, to tie things up at 7-7. Even though Akron would immediately answer back with an RBI walk by Bryce Ball to make it 8-7. But, Altoona would have the hype of the crowd behind them, as Matt Gorski would tie up the game on an RBI double to beat the shift, and to set up the game to be won with one swing of the bat. With Carter Bins up next, he would send one right back to the pitcher, and it would kick off of him for the win. The Curve would walk it off once again against the Akron RubberDucks, and they would go ahead 4-1 in the series!

This walk-off win would not be the last highlight of the night however, as it would be announced that the Curve’s attendance record would be broken, as 10,164 fans would show up to support Skenes and the Curve. Another personal friend of mine, Dean Mavrides, would be in attendance for this game, and would tell me a little about the game from his perspective.

“It was amazing to be a part of Skenes mania. I’ve never seen a minor league ballpark have such a great atmosphere. It’s awesome to see the fans show out. Even though his first outing wasn’t the best, it was amazing to see the ovation from the crowd. It had been nice to interact with Paul all week, he’s a great guy with a great personality, and not many first round picks are near as kind as Paul was to us. It makes a guy like that easier to root for. Even though his outing may have not been the best on paper, we saw his arsenal and he was in on every at bat, and if there was better umpiring, I think he would’ve made a clean inning when you look into it. This is the beginning of a long career ahead, and I can’t wait to see what else he is capable of. To add on, PNG Field felt like PNC Park during his debut.”

Dean Mavrides on Paul Skenes, and his Double-A Debut

Sunday: A Rough End of the Week

Coming off of a very exciting game on Saturday night, the Curve looked to continue to ride off of the energy the record crowd provided the night before. However, this was not the case, as the Curve finished the week off with one of their worser games of the week.

The Curve would open the scoring of Sunday’s game with an RBI single by Jacob Gonzalez in the bottom of the second. With the crowd on their side, the Curve felt ready to go. However, in the top of the third, this was where it started to get ugly. After Juan Brito was hit by a pitch, the game would become tied. Then, later that inning, Angel Martinez would hit a grand slam to put the RubberDucks up 5-1. The Curve would score again in the bottom of the fifth inning, where Matt Frazier would come across on a wild pitch. But, that would be the last of the scoring for the Curve. In the top of the seventh, Juan Brito would hit a two-run homer, which would put the RubberDucks up 7-2. In the eighth inning, Juan Brito would strike again as he would drive in two more runs on a double.

Although Sunday’s game was not a wonderful way to finish the week, the Curve would look very good, as they took the series from the RubberDucks 4-2. With this being a historic week for the Altoona Curve, and Paul Skenes, this week was truly one to remember in Altoona.

Conclusion: History in Altoona, a Truly Incredible Week

As a season ticket holder for almost 8 years, I’ve seen plenty of historic Curve moments, and special games. But, Paul Skenes’ Double-A debut has been by far one of the most special games I’ve ever been a part of, and one of the best weeks I’ve been a part of. Although his Curve debut was not what many fans had hoped for, Paul Skenes will bounce back, and make it to the top. Skenes is not only a phenomenal baseball player, but a phenomenal human being. In today’s day in age, most top prospects and first round picks tend to blow off their fans, and ignore them, but that could not be further from the case when it came to Paul Skenes. From an attendance record, to greeting every fan who hoped to meet him, this week was truly spectacular in Altoona, and it will forever be one for the history books.

Special Thanks

Before we close out this article, I would like to extend a special thank you to a few people who helped make this week so special, and helped to create parts of this article by providing quotes for me to use. Thank you to Brenden Grimminger for telling me about the insides of Paul’s arrival, and allowing me to use his photographs in this article. Thank you to Cadeyn McCrory for providing a quote for me to use, along with attending Thursday and Friday’s games alongside me. Thank you to Dean Mavrides for attending most of the games this week alongside me, making them enjoyable, and for providing a quote for me to use in this article. I appreciate everyone involved, and I hope we can have more special weeks like this one in the future!