If physical ticket stubs were still a thing, Tuesday’s Pittsburgh Pirates game would be one of those games where you would be hanging on to your ticket stub to prove you were there. It wasn’t a playoff game, or a pivotal regular season game that earned a playoff spot, and it might just end up being one game out of 162 in an otherwise mediocre season. But anytime somebody sets a single-game record for a 145-year-old franchise, it is definitely something worth remembering.
That is exactly what Ryan O’Hearn did with his three home run, 10 RBI performance in the Pirates’ 12-4 win over the Atlanta Braves.
He is just the 16th different Pirate to ever hit three home runs in a single game, while his 10 RBI set a franchise record.
Think about that last part for a second and the significance of it. While RBI did not become an official stat until 1920, just stop and think about the players that have worn a Pirates uniform since then and did not accomplish such a single game feat.
Clemente. Stargell. Bonds. Kiner. Waner. Parker. Vaughn. McCutchen.
None of them ever did it.
O’Hearn not only did it, he did it in six innings and earned himself a mid-game curtain call from the fans.
He finished just two RBI shy of the MLB record, and had a chance to do it when he came to bat in the bottom of the eighth inning with a runner on base and a position player facing him on the mound.
He ended up hitting a single and being removed from the game for a pinch-runner, giving the fans one more chance to salute him.
At one point it seemed as if O’Hearn was going to have a shot at the home run cycle. He was halfway to it with a grand slam and three-run home run by the end of the third inning, needing just a two-run homer and solo homer to complete it. Then he ruined it by hitting another three-run home run.
It was a wild game to be at.
In the hundreds upon hundreds of Major League Games I had attended prior to Tuesday, I had only ever witnessed a three home run game one time.
April 17, 1994, Los Angeles Dodgers against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium. The Dodgers won 19-2. Cory Snyder, at the time a backup catcher for the Dodgers, clubbed three home runs as part of the rout. This game became legendary in our household growing up, and was the measuring stick for whether or not a game we had attended, in any sport, was a bad loss.
“At least it wasn’t 19-2.”
Even as a 10-year-old I have a vivid memory of the few thousand fans that stuck around until the end, giving this random guy from the other team a standing ovation as he trotted around the bases. It’s an enormous accomplishment.
Even two home runs in a single game is hard enough. Just ask Paul O’Neill.
This game was a lot more fun to be at as a Pirates fan, and it just added to an otherwise strong atmosphere in the stadium. Because a lot of weird things were happening.
The day started with an ominous vibe.
The Pirates announced before the game that starting shortstop Konnor Griffin is going to be sidelined again, and is expected to miss 8-10 weeks with a finger injury. It is a potentially crushing blow to the infield and takes away a rising star from the lineup. It also puts Jared Triolo back in the lineup, which might be even more damaging than simply losing Griffin to another injury.
Then there was the concern over Paul Skenes and his recent slump, resulting in the Pirates losing each of his previous nine starts. His 25-pitch first inning, including an early run against, did not really improve the vibes.
What did improve, the vibes, however, was O’Hearn’s first home run (the grand slam) in the bottom of the inning to put the Pirates ahead.
I started the game out in outfield, but decided this was going to be a roam around the park night, which is one of the great things the Ballpark Pass gives you. Just taking in different vantage points and checking out the atmosphere in different parts of the park. Sometimes you just pick a spot along a drink rail in the outfield and post up at one of the stools out there. Sometimes I will tip an usher and sit in a good seat. Sometimes I like to just go up to the far reaches of the stadium down the lines in the upper deck and grab a seat in the open sections. That is also an enjoyable experience, and that is where I ended up for the middle innings. On nights like this where it’s a smaller crowd, there’s usually a few dozen people that make their way up to the sections in the upper deck down the lines, and just scatter themselves throughout. A small group of friends here. A couple there. One random person, probably with a BallPark Pass, just finding an empty seat. It’s a good way to watch the game, not have to deal with a lot of people, and get a great view of the field, the river, and the city.
Sometime around the fourth inning, just after O’Hearn hit his second home run of the night, it began to form.
The “tarps off” section down the left field line.
It started with a small handful.
It was at this point that a group of dudes, probably in their late-teens/early 20s, that were occupying a row up behind me, decided that they needed to join.
“We have to get over there,” one of them shouted.
So they did.
They not only did, they sprinted down the steps of the section and out into the concourse.
For two innings I sat and watched from a distance as groups of dudes sprinted up the left-field rotunda, sprinted across sections, and sprinted up the steps. As each group arrived, the cheers greeting them grew louder. And louder. And louder.
I’ve obviously seen this trend build at college football games, and now baseball games, and I’m not really sure how I feel about it.
I think I view it like I view the wave. It’s not my thing. It’s objectively probably kind of dumb. But it also seems like harmless fun, and who am I to yuck somebody else’s yum. It also brought some energy to the stadium, and they were clearly invested in the game given the chants that were being directed at the field.
It was just wild to watch it organically grow from an empty section, into … whatever that was.
It grew so much that the Pirates in-house host introduced the seventh-inning stretch and Take Me Out To The Ball Game by joining the section and removing his shirt.
They were at one point chanting for the Pirate Parrot to join them, but the bird never made it up there.
The mental imagine of a shirtless parrot waving its jersey above its head does make me laugh, however.
Meanwhile, while swarms of dudes were taking the shirts off and twirling them over their heads in left field, something else random was unfolding down the right field line.
One of the between-pitch sound effects the Pirates blare over the PA system is a clip of Freddy Mercury hitting some crazy note, and fans trying to mimic it. Well, there was one fan in particular that was putting everybody to shame. I would bet some amount of money the fan in question is some level of opera singer. And every time the Pirates played the clip, she would stand up, turn around, hold her arms out, and absolutely belt out an unbelievable sound that echoed throughout the upper deck. She did this no fewer than six times, and every time she stood up, she hit the note more times, and for longer, to the applause of everybody within ear shot.
The juxtaposition between that, and whatever was happening down the left field line, was really something to behold. PNC Park turned into a Shakespearian theatre, with high-class society was intersecting with the peasants.
Overall, pretty fun night at the park.
There was a franchise record and a flirtation with a Major League Baseball record.
Weird antics in the stands.
Paul Skenes pitched his best game in a month.
The Pirates lineup continues to mash even without Oneil Cruz and Spencer Horwitz (and now Konnor Griffin) for the time being.
They already have as many home runs by July 8 as they had for the entirety of the 2025 season. It might legitimately be one of the best offensive clubs the franchise has ever seen. At least it is on pace to be that.
Still not sure what to make of them overall, and they at some point have to string together a bunch of wins over an extended period of time to really establish themselves as being in the playoff race. Adding a couple of arms would really help that. But they are a lot more fun and interesting to watch than they have been. You felt all of that on Tuesday at the park.