NEW YORK — It was as hyped of a pitching matchup as you could have asked for on Opening Day: Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes, a Cy Young Award winner, a former Rookie of the Year and, of course, boyfriend to gymnast and influencer Livvy Dunne, facing Freddy Peralta, the newly-acquired Mets ace who is also expected to compete for a Cy Young Award this season.

It was a heavyweight prize fight that quickly turned into a slugfest when Brandon Lowe drove one of Peralta’s curveballs over the right field fence in the top of the first inning for a two-run shot. But the Mets quickly delivered the knockout blow to Skenes in the bottom of the first inning, scoring five to chase one of the game’s best arms from the game after only two outs.

After nine rounds of the first bout of the season, the Mets came away with the win, 11-7.

The pitching ended up being an afterthought. The Mets’ lineup proved to be quite pesky, scoring again in the fourth, plating three in the fifth and two in the sixth.

Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh defense looked rough.

The five-run outburst in the first inning was punctuated by a three-run triple that went over the head of center fielder O’Neil Cruz, and a shallow fly by Marcus Semien dropped right next to Cruz to score another run.

The total damage was five earned runs on four hits, two walks and one strikeout by Skenes (0-1). The Mets batted around, with Skenes leaving after striking out rookie right fielder Carson Benge and hitting No. 9 hitter Francisco Alvarez with a pitch.

Benge would not quietly in his first big league game. A 23-year-old out of Oklahoma State, Benge went 1-for-3 with a home run, a walk, two runs scored and a stolen base. Skenes might have struck him out on three pitches, but Benge gave the Buccos’ bullpen a much harder time. He struck out on six pitches against right-hander Yohan Ramirez in his second at-bat, worked an eight-pitch walk against left-hander Mason Montgomery his third time up, then took sidewinding righty Justin Lawrence deep in the bottom of the sixth.

Alvarez went back-to-back with his first homer of the season off Lawrence. By that point, the Mets were up big, 11-5. The Mets put runners on in every inning except the seventh, they extended innings with two outs, had timely hitting and worked counts. Three runs came with two outs, one on an infield single by Polanco and two by Luis Robert Jr., who also beat the tag on an infield single.

Citi Field doesn’t typically lend itself to offensive production early in the year, so if this is a preview of what’s to come from the Mets’ lineup, they’re going to make life difficult on opposing pitchers.

Peralta went five innings, giving up four earned runs, including two homers to Lowe, on six hits while striking out seven. Right-hander Tobias Myers, the pitcher who came with Peralta in the trade from the Milwaukee Brewers, went three innings, giving up a home run to Ryan O’Hearn, and veteran right-hander Luis Garcia Jr. allowed two to score in the ninth.

The Pirates used six pitchers after Skenes. With Friday off, the Pittsburgh pitching situation isn’t dire, but still, damage was done.

It wasn’t how the Mets or the Pirates drew it up, but in the end, it made for an entertaining Opening Day for a sellout Citi Field crowd.

_____

©2026 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.