Apr. 3—The same day a GQ magazine profile is published, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes led his team to its second win of the season.
Coincidence?
If Skenes has any say in it, he will propel the team to the post-season, he told GQ. Then, he will get to once again wear the black Gucci tie girlfriend Livvy Dunne bought him to wear to the ballpark.
The tie is now reserved for special events, he told the magazine, the next of which he hopes is the playoffs.
Dunne is doing her part too, telling GQ her superstition is yelling "Let's go, Paul" before every pitch.
The article published Wednesday goes in-depth into the couple's relationship, how they met, their respective successes in baseball and gymnastics and how they manage to stay grounded in a busy world of work, school and social media. The article referred to them as a Gen Z power couple.
Skenes, 22, is coming off a rookie season where he went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA. He started the MLB All-Star game, was named the NL Rookie of the Year and finished third in NL Cy Young voting. On Wednesday, he led the Pirates to a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays by recording six strikeouts without a walk over seven innings.
Dunne, 22, is a popular gymnast at Louisiana State University, where the pair met, and a social media influencer with millions of followers.
Skenes discussed with the magazine his start in baseball, transferring from the Air Force Academy to LSU, where he led the team to a College World Series title in 2023. He talked about winding through the minor leagues after getting drafted by the Pirates and described Altoona, where he briefly played with the Altoona Curve, as "beautiful."
During the long baseball season, the couple finds small pockets of time to spend together, often after a plane ride. Having a girlfriend who basks in the spotlight has been helpful for Skenes, he said, to learn how to balance the attention that comes with work.
"I view it as, it's not my job to take pictures with these people, it's my job to throw, and them wanting to take pictures is getting in the way of that," he told GQ. "But she always handles everything very well — she's very comfortable to be around for other people who come up and ask to talk, that kind of thing."
Renatta Signorini is a TribLive reporter covering breaking news, crime, courts and Jeannette. She has been working at the Trib since 2005. She can be reached at rsignorini@triblive.com.
