A nervous Livvy Dunne was caught on broadcast cameras as she watched Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.
Skenes threw six scoreless innings on the way to their thrilling 4-3 extra inning win and set the Pirates’ single-record for strikeouts by a right-hander – with 211.
Skenes’ girlfriend, LSU gymnast-turned-social media sensation Dunne, was caught on camera throughout the evening as she went through a rollercoaster of emotions.
In the top of the fifth, Dunne was seen taking a picture, frantically typing on her phone before taking a few nervous breaths and shouting: ‘Come on!’
However, just one inning later, she was again seen on camera cheering along as Skenes struck out Spencer Steer. ‘Let’s go!’, Dunne cried out.
The win means the Pirates have won four straight games and have earned back-to-back series wins over the Reds.
A nervous Livvy Dunne was spotted on broadcast cameras watching Paul Skenes pitch
Skenes helped lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-3 with over Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday
On a personal note, Skenes set the Pirates’ single-record for strikeouts by a right-hander after moving ahead of teammate, right-hander Mitch Keller who had 210.
His performance on the night also meant that he moved below a 2.00 ERA for the season, rounding off a terrific sophomore campaign for the 23-year-old.
The result means that Pittsburgh improves to 69-89 overall and 25-52 on the road, while Cincinnati falls to 80-78 overall and 44-36 at home.
Recently, Skenes told his Pirates teammates to ‘look in the mirror’ after they were eliminated from playoff contention two weeks before the end of the season.
‘This is a wasted year if we don’t learn what we need to do and we don’t know why we didn’t go out there and do what we wanted to do,’ Skenes said. ‘If those things happen, then it’s a wasted year, in my opinion.
‘I don’t think that’s happening. I think – individually, as a team and as an organization – we know the adjustments we need to make. Now, we’ve just got to do them.’
‘There’s room to get better in this locker room,’ Skenes said.
Dunne did eventually get her chance to cheer when Skenes recorded a strikeout
‘We just need to do it. I’m sure we’ll get some pieces and do all that, but my mind right now is ‘What can we do within the locker room to get better, now and for next year?’ There’s urgency to it, and we need to understand that and act on it.’
‘It’s going to take a lot of guys taking a look in the mirror, figuring out what it is that they need to get better at, and making sacrifices to do that,’ he added.
A season that began with the Pirates hoping to return to contention for the first time in a decade quickly disintegrated during a nightmarish 12-26 start that led to manager Derek Shelton’s firing.
Though Don Kelly steadied things after replacing him, and Skenes has been the most dominant pitcher in the game, Pittsburgh entered its final home series against the Athletics last weekend having dropped 11 of 12 to assure the franchise’s 29th losing season since 1992.
