Sam Huff elects free agency

It’s the eighth three-homer game this year and first by a Pirate since Liover Peguero, of all people, had one at Coors Field last August. The last Pirate to hit three homers at PNC Park wasn’t any more famous; Michael Pérez did that in 2022. O’Hearn is the first Pirate ever to drive in 10 runs in a game. Johnny Rizzo held the team record with nine in a game in 1939. Jason Bay drove in eight for the team twice, and Andrew McCutchen did it once. It’s the second 10-RBI game of the decade, joining Shohei Ohtani’s 6-for-6, three-homer masterpiece on Sept. 19, 2024. O’Hearn is suddenly ninth in the majors with 61 RBI, even though he spent two weeks on the IL in May.

Pasquantino kicked off his rehab assignment by reaching base safely in three of his four plate appearances. The 28-year-old first baseman figures to get a couple additional tune-up contests under his belt before returning to Kansas City later this week. He’s been working his way back from a hamate fracture since mid-June.

Murakami singled in his first at-bat before striking out twice in his rehab debut. The 26-year-old first baseman will probably require a couple additional contests to knock off the rust from an extended layoff before he returns to Chicago’s lineup later this week. He’s been out with a hamstring strain since late May.

It’d be nice if Keith got to play a full game once in a while, but to go along with his issues against lefties — which are probably exacerbated by him hardly ever getting to face them — he’s just not one of the Tigers’ better defensive infielders. Keith’s homer off J.T. Ginn was his seventh in his last 20 games after he hit zero in his first 62.

Henry Bolte’s homer was the only damage tonight. Skubal gave up four additional hits but only one other hard-hit ball, and he generated 22 whiffs on 52 swings. He’s fanned exactly nine batters in three straight outings now, and he’ll take a 5-4 record and a 3.06 ERA into Sunday’s start at home against the Phillies.

That Ginn’s fastball velocity was down three mph from his season average tonight seems to have a good explanation. He managed to limit the Tigers to two hits anyway, although one was a two-run homer from Colt Keith. At this point, he’s still expected to pitch the first-half finale against the White Sox on Sunday.

Bolte’s homer was a 108-mph, 411-foot blast off Tarik Skubal, giving the A’s their lone run in five innings against the two-time Cy Young Award winner. Kind of surprisingly, Bolte was dropped to ninth in the order tonight. He entered with a .370 OBP and he’s led off several times recently, but the A’s had Zack Gelof in the top spot tonight. Bolte’s homer was his third in 186 plate appearances since being called up. He’s not taking advantage of his power while hitting the ball on the ground about two-thirds of the time, but it is there, waiting to come out.