Ryan O’Hearn suffers quad injury on Friday night

O’Hearn is expected to miss 6-8 weeks, according to the team. The 33-year-old suffered the injury during Friday’s loss to the Reds while running to first base in the ninth inning. It’s a massive hit for the Pirates as they’ll be without one of their key middle-of-the-order run producers until at least mid-September. The encouraging news here is that there’s a chance O’Hearn is back for the home stretch, and a potential postseason run.

O’Hearn’s grand slam came on his 33rd birthday, one of three homers the Pirates hit off Jameson Taillon on the day. The lefty slugger has now tied his career-high in homers with 17, and his 68 RBI are a personal best too. O’Hearn is a similar hitter to his recent seasons by wRC+, but he’s benefitting from regular playing time on the second-highest-scoring offense in MLB.

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.

O’Hearn knocked a base hit and scored a run in the second inning. He then took Brady Singer deep for a solo homer in the fifth. Following a rain delay in the eighth, O’Hearn extended the Pittsburgh lead with a three-run blast off Pierce Johnson. The 32-year-old slugger is up to 13 homers and 50 RBI while slashing .286/.342/.479 across 284 plate appearances.

Horwitz left Wednesday’s game with hamstring discomfort and now finds himself on the injured list; although, there is no set timeline for his return right now. The 28-year-old is hitting .280/.386/.455 with 10 home runs, 36 runs scored, and 33 RBI in 74 games this season as a key member of the Pirates lineup. Ryan O’Hearn should play a lot of first base with Horwitz sidelined.

O’Hearn collected a season-high four hits, including three doubles, as Pittsburgh racked up 11 runs on 15 hits to back a stellar performance on the mound from starter Braxton Ashcraft. The 32-year-old veteran ignited a four-run seventh inning to blow the doors off this one by scalding a two-run double down the right-field line. He added another RBI double in the eighth just for good measure. He’s locked-in at the dish right now, hitting .355 (11-for-31) with one homer and nine RBI over his last seven games.

O’Hearn’s double in the first, which knocked in two runs, would have been a homer in 16 ballparks. He also plated two with his home run and with his single in the seventh, besting his previous high RBI total by two. O’Hearn had been pretty quiet since coming off the injured list at the end of May, but going 6-for-10 the last two days has boosted him back up to .290/.351/.475 for the year.

O’Hearn drove in the first run of the game with a single in the first inning. He later added a base hit in the fifth for his second hit of the game. The 32-year-old slugger is having an excellent season with the Pirates, slashing .282/.350/.460 with 10 homers, 31 runs scored, and 35 RBI across 226 plate appearances.

O’Hearn will get a breather with left-hander Justin Wrobleski toeing the slab for the opposition. Esmerlyn Valdez will start in his place in right field and will bat sixth for the Pirates on Thursday night at PNC Park.

O’Hearn got the scoring started in the ballgame with a two-out, RBI single off of Kei-Wei Teng in the top half of the first inning. He then ambushed a first-pitch fastball for a 349-foot (94.0 mph EV) two-run shot off of Teng during a four-run uprising in the sixth inning. The 32-year-old slugger hasn’t missed a beat since returning from the injured list and is now slashing a robust .295/.371/.486 with nine long balls and 33 RBI on the season.