Paul Skenes's day on the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates was frustratingly familiar on Sunday.
Skenes was dominant, striking out 10 Seattle Mariners while scattering five hits across five innings before getting a surprising early hook, and watched the Pirates' bats once again fail to get across a single run. Pittsburgh fell 1–0 for the second consecutive game and were swept by the Mariners without scoring a run. Skenes was unable to improve on his 4–7 record, but the rest of his numbers continue to dazzle: He has a 1.94 ERA with 125 strikeouts and just 30 walks in 116 innings, for an impressive WHIP of 0.92.
Luckily for Skenes, the rest of baseball recognizes his dominance, even if the Pirates are more often than not unable to convert it into wins. Ahead of Sunday's game, manager Don Kelly announced to Skene and the rest of the Pirates that the young pitcher has been named to his second All-Star Game in as many years in the Big Leagues.
Pittsburgh captured a pretty special clubhouse moment for Skenes, who has a chance to start the game for the National League once again after doing so as a rookie in '24.
The moment Paul Skenes found out he was an All-Star 🥲 pic.twitter.com/vh2QSITDZF
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 6, 2025
Skenes is the sole Pirates representative on this year's National League All-Star team, which also features arms like Chris Sale, Zack Wheeler, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and "Legend Pick" Clayton Kershaw.
Pittsburgh is 38–53 after the sweep at the hands of the Mariners, and find themselves in the basement of the NL Central, but Skenes remains a must-watch star every time he hits the mound.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Pirates Share Touching Moment Paul Skenes Learned of His 2025 All-Star Game Selection.
