Ryan O’Hearn Just Did Something No Pirate Has Ever Done. The Braves Were Powerless.

Ryan O’Hearn walked into Tuesday night’s game against the Atlanta Braves and basically turned PNC Park into his personal launch pad. By the time the sixth inning rolled around, he had already done something that no Pittsburgh Pirates player has ever done before.

Three home runs. Ten RBIs. That’s a franchise record for RBIs in a single game. And it happened fast.

O’Hearn kicked things off in the bottom of the first with a grand slam. Not a bad way to introduce yourself to the home crowd. He came up again in the third and hammered a three-run shot. By the sixth, he was up again, and yeah, another three-run bomb. The guy just kept swinging and the ball kept leaving the yard.

The Pirates pulled him after his fifth at-bat, which felt a little like a mercy move for the Braves at that point. Pittsburgh had a 12-2 lead going into the ninth. The game was over. The record was set.

O’Hearn signed with the Pirates in free agency specifically to add some pop to the lineup. Through the first half of the season, he’s hitting .293 with 16 homers and 61 RBIs. Those are solid numbers, but what he did Tuesday is a different tier. He’s now sitting just two home runs and three RBIs away from setting career highs across the board. And it’s not even the All-Star break yet.

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The Pirates brought in O’Hearn hoping he’d be more than just a placeholder at first base. He’s been that and then some. He’s second on the team in homers and RBIs, trailing only Brandon Lowe. And considering how this season is shaping up, that investment has paid off in a big way. The trade deadline is coming, and O’Hearn is making a case that the Pirates should keep building around him rather than dealing him off.

It’s not just the numbers, though. It’s the way he’s hitting. He’s not getting cheap ones. Tuesday’s homers were crushed, each one more emphatic than the last. The Braves pitchers tried everything — fastballs, breaking balls, different locations — and none of it mattered.

O’Hearn’s performance will be hard to top. But the fact that it’s now a permanent part of Pirates history means nobody in Pittsburgh is going to forget this game anytime soon. And if he keeps hitting like this, the Braves won’t forget it either.