"Paul Skenes learned how to smile" - Fans buzz as Olivia Dunne’s heartfelt embrace with Pirates ace after NL Cy Young win goes viral

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes' historic season got rewarded on Wednesday as the two-time All-Star was named the National League CY Young winner.

Skenes, who finished third in last year's voting, won the award unanimously, beating Philadelphia Phillies lefty Cristopher Sanchez and Los Angeles Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

The Pirates ace hugged his girlfriend Olivia Dunne, who was seated next to him along with his family and friends.

Fans reacted to Skenes' joyful reaction on winning the prestigious award.

"He learned how to smile."

(Image source - Instagram)

"You can see him actually trying to react this year 😭 😭 good job Paul." "Bro smiled this year after everyone's reaction last time." "Bro is faking that smile so hard." "That's literally the mostt emotive I've ever seen him." "Finally he smiles for once."

(Image source - Instagram)

Dunne shared her reaction to Skenes' Cy Young win in her Instagram story.

"Oh my goodness," Dunne captioned her story.

(Image source - Olivia Dunne Instagram)

In another story, Dunne shared a glimpse of their celebration for Skenes' win.

(Image source - Olivia Dunne Instagram)

Skenes won the award unanimously, earning all 30 first-place votes. He is only the third Pirate to win the award, joining Vern Law (1960) and Doug Drabek (1990).innan exclusive list.

Paul Skenes looks back at his baseball journey after Cy Young triumph

Paul Skenes was selected with the no.1 pick in the 2023 MLB draft after his College World Series heroics with the LSU Tigers. Skenes was named the MLB Rookie of the Year last season and has continued his ascent in his second year.

“As I look back on my path in baseball up to this point, I got recruited to college as a catcher,” Skenes said. “Kept growing and started pitching and got better on the mound. Never thought I would end up here. Never thought I would be in the Major Leagues, much less winning a Cy Young. "So it doesn’t always work out how you think it’s going to. But if you stay the course, you surround yourself with good people, you work hard, you’re going to do exactly what you’re supposed to do, whatever that looks like.”

Skenes joins Dwight Gooden and Fernando Valenzuela as the only other pitchers to have won the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards in the first two years of their MLB career.

Edited by Chaitanya Prakash