Burnett is beloved by Pirates fans
A.J. Burnett might have been a frequent target of the Bronx boo-birds when he played for the New York Yankees, but there is no denying that the veteran right-hander is beloved by Pirates fans.
Burnett made his first start of the season at PNC Park on Tuesday night — after a one-year detour to the Philadelphia Phillies in free agency — and took a hard-luck 2-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
Though Burnett had just allowed an RBI single to center fielder Rajai Davis that broke a scoreless tie with two outs in the seventh inning, the crowd of 31,755 gave him a warm ovation.
Burnett responded by twice waving to the crowd.
Burnett went a combined 26-21 with the Pirates in 2012 and 2013 after agreeing to waive his no-trade clause in order for the Yankees to ship him to Pittsburgh just before the start of spring training in ’12.
He became a hero to the fans as a player who willingly agreed to join a franchise that hadn’t had a winning season since 1992.
“The whole night was humbling,” Burnett said. “From people saying hi and welcoming me back when I walked through the tunnel to the clubhouse when I got to the ballpark to all the support I got from the fans during the game. I definitely felt like I was back home again.”
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Rush hour traffic is usually enough to fray anyone’s nerves. However, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle loved the fact that it took him 45 minutes to cover the last four blocks of his trek from his home in the North Hills on Monday morning.
The fans were already out in force nearly five hours before the Pirates’ home opener against the Tigers, which turned out being a 5-4 victory for the local nine.
The Pirates are coming off back-to-back postseason appearances after having 20 consecutive losing seasons, which is the longest such stretch of futility in major North American professional sports history.
“I just kind of sat there and smiled,” Hurdle said. “This wouldn’t have happened four years ago. This would not have happened three years ago. This didn’t happen two years ago. And it didn’t happen last year.”
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When first baseman Pedro Alvarez drew a sixth-inning intentional walk from Jeremy Jeffress in the Pirates’ 6-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night, it ended a streak of 44 consecutive innings without a bases on balls.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no major league team has had a longer streak than the 2005 Tigers, who went 46 innings before Carlos Pena coaxed a ninth-inning walk on Oct. 1.
The odd part is the Pirates led the National League last season with 520 walks.