Pirates' Paul Skenes had golden motivation for Team USA at WBC - ESPN

National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes has all the motivation he needs heading into the World Baseball Classic, courtesy of Team USA's success at the Winter Olympics.

«Winning gold is the biggest thing,» the Pittsburgh Pirates' ace told reporters after his first spring training start Wednesday in North Port, Florida. «Yeah, men's hockey, women's hockey, all the other golds that we won in the Olympics. We're America, we've got to assert our dominance over everybody else. That's what we do. It's going to be fun.

»USA wins, it's what we do. Got to keep it going."

His 53-pitch outing against the Atlanta Braves is expected to be the only one Skenes has before he joins the U.S. for the World Baseball Classic. Skenes said he expects to make two starts in the tournament, which begins for Team USA with pool play at Daikin Park in Houston with games against Brazil (March 6), Great Britain (March 7), Mexico (March 9) and Italy (March 10).

«Whichever game I'm pitching in, it doesn't really matter,» Skenes told reporters. «Just want to win gold.»

The tournament culminates with the WBC finals March 17 in Miami.

Team USA also boasts starting pitchers Tarik Skubal, Joe Ryan, Matthew Boyd, Logan Webb, Clay Holmes and Nolan McLean on its roster.

«There's going to be two, two-and-a-half weeks to pick guys' brains,» Skenes told reporters. «Talking to them is great but seeing how they operate is another thing. So, aside from winning a gold medal, it would be a pretty good reward for doing that.»

Skenes, who pitched for the U.S. Air Force Academy for two seasons before transferring to LSU for his junior year, said he told Team USA manager Mark DeRosa that he wanted to honor U.S. servicemen and women by pitching in the WBC.

«That's