Detroit Tigers mascot shoots shot at Livvy Dunne, rejected during Paul Skenes start

Recent days have seen Dunne in Omaha, cheering on the LSU Tigers. A win on Wednesday put them in the College World Series championship series against Coastal Carolina. Two more wins and it will be the program’s second national championship under head coach Jay Johnson.

Saturday will bring Game 1 of the series, with somebody potentially dogpiling on Sunday afternoon. If not, a deciding Game 3 will be played on Monday night. Dunne has not revealed whether or not she will be in attendance but has been present for most of LSU’s games to this point.

Mike the Tiger is LSU’s official mascot — both a human who dresses up and a real-life tiger in Baton Rouge. Tigers who wear purple and gold are a little more Dunne’s speed, not Paws.

As for Skenes, the distraction did not work too well. While the stuff was not A+ against Detroit, he once again put together a quality start.

Skenes threw six innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits and five walks. As usual, the strikeout numbers were quite high as the Pirates’ ace fanned nine Tigers. His season ERA remains well below 2.00, sitting at 1.85 after Thursday.

Getting offensive support has been an issue all season but four runs were on the board when Skenes was pulled from the game. Pittsburgh’s bullpen will have the task of closing the game out and attempting to put a victory on their ace’s record.

Maybe Paws will think twice about attempting to get inside the head of Skenes. Pittsburgh will not be back at Comerica Park in Detroit for a couple of years due to how MLB scheduling works. Paws will have some time to either put together a new plan or completely abandon ship.