MLB rookie sensation Paul Skenes is setting the baseball world on fire in his first few starts.
Skenes, the boyfriend of social media star Olivia Dunne, had one of the best pitching performances of the season in just his second game.
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Skenes was the best pitcher in MLB and made his second start of the season on Friday and excelled against the Cubs.
The Pirates’ top prospect struck out the first seven batters on his way to six shutout innings.
He struck out 11 batters and allowed no hits in his six innings of work.
“My pitches worked a lot better for me than they did last time,” Skenes said.
“It’s very hard to compete without fastball execution, no matter who you are. It was much better today.”
Skenes was working a perfect game, retiring his first 13 batters before allowing a walk to Cubs slugger Michael Busch.
“He went right after them,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said.
“He used all his pitches. The fact that he could go back and forth and then go back to the fastball when he needed to.
“When you go back to the fastball and it’s 100 mph, it changes the dynamic a little bit.”
Skenes threw 12 pitches over 100 mph, becoming the fifth rookie pitcher since 1800 to have 10 strikeouts and no hits allowed in a game.
“The fastball command was good today,” Cubs slugger Mike Tauchman said.
“And then he was able to tunnel that splitter/anchor – or whatever he calls it – out of it.
“And play all of that competitively. When you’re dealing with someone with that speed and command and they make you make split-second decisions — he did a good job.”
Skenes dominated the cubs at Wrigley Field and enjoyed his performance on such a historic field.
DUNNE AND SKENES’ SUMMER OF LOVE
Olivia Dunne and Paul Skenes managed to keep their relationship a secret before finally going public last summer.
The two met at LSU, but it’s unclear when they started dating.
Rumors of a romance began when Dunne watched LSU win the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, last summer.
And Dunne posted selfies from Fort Myers, Fla., where Skenes was playing.
He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates and began his professional career playing in the minor leagues in the Sunshine State.
The final clue came when Dunne posed in a Pirates cap before the pair finally went public.
“This is something I will appreciate even more in the coming days,” he said.
“Wrigley is awesome. I heard all about the day games at Wrigley and the vibe here. It was really, really cool.”
Skenes’ 18 strikeouts were tied for the most by a Pirates pitcher in the first two starts.
The other pitcher is Nick Maddox, who set the record in 1908.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
