Puppies with 'staches? It must be Pawl Skenes night
It was Pawl Skenes night at the ballpark in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, but it's safe to say these canines care little about his K/9, impressive as it may be.
Pirates fans took Pup Night to the next level by giving their pooches the full Skenes treatment, with kerchiefs that had his No. 30 on them and, of course, tiny black mustaches. Skenes has certainly done his part to bring back the 'stache in baseball, and now he has the dogs on his side. You know what they say: i-mutt-ation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Skenes did the puppies proud with his pitching performance, recording the longest outing of his big league career with 8 1/3 innings and eight strikeouts. It had -- you'll have to excuse us -- a bit of a ruff ending, though, because Skenes allowed the go-ahead run in the ninth inning and took the first loss of his professional career.
No worries. The puppies will surely be back for more must-see Skenes starts. Or, next time, maybe it'll be the felines for Paul Skenes copycat night.