For one young Pirates fan, there are two things that he really likes about phenom pitcher Paul Skenes.
The right-hander’s facial hair and his uber-famous girlfriend.
The viral moment occurred as SportsNet Pittsburgh’s Hannah Mears was speaking with a young fan named Cooper — who himself was wearing a fake mustache — during the top of the fifth during Skenes’ Thursday matinee start when she asked the young Bucs fan what he liked about Skenes.
“His mustache and Livvy Dunne!” he replied, which prompted laughter from the Pirates’ television sideline reporter.
Dunne, who is dating the Pirates pitcher, has been as much of a topic during Skenes’ starts in the major leagues as his on-field performance has been since he was called up from Triple-A earlier this month.
Skenes was on the mound for his third start on Thursday, in what ended up being a 7-6 loss to the Giants, but he had another strong outing.
Skenes went six innings, allowing just one run on six hits and striking out three batters.
The only run against the Pirates’ star rookie came in the fourth on an RBI groundout from Jorge Soler.
Skenes held the Giants at bay otherwise, with his velocity topping out at 100.3 mph, though he only reached triple digits on four of his 93 pitches on Thursday afternoon, which was down from his previous big league outings.
His first punchout of the day came in the first inning when he got Thairo Estrada to go down swinging to end the opening frame.
“Had a couple long innings, but there’s going to be those games,” Skenes said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I thought I made do and put the team in the best position to win.”
Skenes turned to his four-seamer on 40 of his 93 pitches and 35 were “splinkers” — a combination pitch between a splitter and sinker — during his first start since throwing six no-hit innings last Friday.
Dunne was on hand for Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh, posting a photo of herself to her Instagram Story, where she was down on the field at PNC Park wearing a black tank top and matching leather pants.
She also posted a video of herself watching Skenes pitch to her TikTok account.
The couple confirmed they were dating in August 2023 in an interview with the Post-Gazette, but rumors had been swirling since last June that they were an item.
