Paul Skenes is almost single-handedly keeping Major League Baseball relevant for its obnoxiously long 162-game regular season. The Pittsburgh Pirates rookie became the first-ever No. 1 overall pick to be an MLB All-Star the very next year.
The Pirates turned the camera on Skenes for his big moment when manager Derek Shelton broke the news in the Buccos’ clubhouse.
The moment Bryan Reynolds and Paul Skenes found out they were headed to the All-Star Game 🥹 pic.twitter.com/Q0rBWtck2s
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 7, 2024
If not for Skenes’ brilliance on the bump, Pittsburgh would be nowhere near Wild Card contention. Thanks to his 5-0 record with a 2.12 ERA and 78 Ks across 10 starts, though, the Pirates franchise has new life.
Speaking of life, it’s going pretty well for Skenes. He gets to humiliate hitters on the regular and goes home to fellow LSU Tiger/NIL gymnastics sensation Livvy Dunne. If Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are the sports-adjacent “it couple” at present, Skenes-Dunne are a solid No. 2 and I’m not sure anyone comes close. Wholesome, kindhearted person that she is, Dunne made sure to properly celebrate her beau’s landmark achievement with a fun surprise party.
Livvy Dunne surprised Paul Skenes after he became an All-Star 🥹💛
(via @livvydunne) pic.twitter.com/uRiUDJuj0S
— MLB (@MLB) July 8, 2024
And really, anyone who has the faintest interest in baseball should be cracking open a cold one or something, because Paul Skenes might actually make it worth tuning in for the MLB All-Star Game for an inning or so. The young flamethrower’s fastball regularly hits triple digits on the radar gun. His “splinker” pitch is damn near unhittable.
Dunne seems like a really caring partner. She’s always supporting Skenes and has been cheering him on hard during the early days of his MLB journey, whether it be in person when she can or from afar. She has plenty of her own stuff going on, so big ups to Dunne for setting up a nice little spread.
More context from one of the local radio personalities on Dunne’s cuisine of choice: Pizza from the famous Primanti Bros sandwich shop.
Paul Skenes celebrated making the All-Star game with Livvy Dunne. And a Pizza from Primanti Bros. That’s living right. PS-Primanti’s pizza very underrated. pic.twitter.com/0p69aLHiT1
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) July 8, 2024
Guess I’ll trust the guy’s judgment even though he was 1,000,000,000% overboard on his belief in Kenny Pickett as a future elite quarterback.
