Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Watch: Young Pirates fan had best reaction to getting ball from Paul Skenes

By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated May 28, 2025 6:33 PM ET

Paul Skenes has made a lot of people happy since his Major League Baseball debut roughly a year ago, but it is hard to imagine anyone more thrilled than the young fan who got a souvenir from the Pittsburgh Pirates star on Wednesday.

Skenes started in Wednesday's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Pirates were on the road, but Skenes spotted a young Pittsburgh fan in the stands and decided to toss him a ball.

The young boy had a priceless reaction:

This young @Pirates fan’s reaction to getting a ball from Paul Skenes is absolutely priceless pic.twitter.com/GH4XdjR6SQ
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) May 28, 2025

Talk about a core memory. The look on the child's face said it all.

Skenes had another strong outing and improved his record to 4-5 on the year with a win. The right-hander allowed just four hits and no earned runs while striking out seven over 6 2/3 innings. Pittsburgh won the game 10-1.

The Pirates are just 21-36 on the year, and Skenes entered Wednesday's game with a 2.36 ERA. It goes without saying that he has not gotten much support from his teammates, but he obviously appreciated the support from a young fan in Arizona.

Steve DelVecchio

Steve is a veteran writer who has covered a variety of sports and pop culture topics for more than 15 years. In addition to Yardbarker, his work has been featured on prominent digital publications including Larry Brown Sports, MSN and FOX Sports. The UConn graduate has published more than 40,000 stories and is one of the most experienced trending news writers in the country

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