Paul Skenes & girlfriend Olivia Dunne jet off in style ahead of All-Star game

Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes' girlfriend, Olivia Dunne, has been showing up to ballparks more frequently this season to support the young flamethrower. The former LSU gymnast will also be at the All-Star game in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Skenes earned his second All-Star selection this year and was named the starter for the National League team for the second year in a row. He will be better starting at Truist Park on Tuesday with Dunne likely in the stands cheering for the reigning NL Rookie of the Year.

Dunne, who retired from gymnastics after five years in college this year, shared an Instagram story on Sunday, showcasing the duo flying for the Midsummer Classic in a private jet.

"All-Star game bound," Dunne captioned her post.

The former LSU gymnast is no stranger to the marquee event, as she walked the Red carpet with Paul Skenes ahead of his first All-Star game last year.

“This is so cool,” Dunne said at the MLB All-Star Red Carpet Show last year. “It’s different from any other red carpet I’ve ever been on. This is so chaotic; I’m having a blast! I’ve never walked on a carpet with anybody, so I was like ‘Alright are we going to hold hands? What are we going to do?’ It just came to us naturally when we got out here.”

Paul Skenes honored to start second consecutive All-Star game

Paul Skenes received a call from Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who's also managing the NL team for the All-Star game, about his selection as the starter.

He becomes the pitcher to start consecutive All-Star games since Chris Sale and Max Scherzer (2017 & 2018). He's also the first Pirate since his teammate Andrew McCutchen to make consecutive starts at the Midsummer Classic. Skenes joined Joe DiMaggio, Ichiro Suzuki, Rod Carew and Frank Robinson in an elite list of players to have featured in consecutive All-Star games in their first two MLB seasons.

“It's a huge honor, obviously,” Skenes said on Sunday. “It's not something that I'm ever going to pass up. You can't ever take it for granted. So just honored to have the opportunity to do it again.”

Paul Skenes pitched a scoreless inning in his first All-Star game last season and will hope to improve on that outing on Tuesday.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash