Splash hits in San Francisco and Pittsburgh have become a pretty cool part of baseball. But while there have been 91 total homers hit into McCovey Cove on the fly since AT&T Park opened in 2000, there had been just one homer hit into the Allegheny River behind PNC Park during a game since its opening in 2001. On July 6, 2002, Daryle Ward of the Houston Astros smashed a ball out of the stadium off of Pirates starter Kip Wells and into the drink.
Well, a Pirate has finally accomplished the feat, and Garrett Jones is (of course) the lucky masher. In the bottom of the eighth inning against Reds reliever Jonathan Broxton, Jones obliterated a meaty fastball 463 feet, tying the game at four. The Pirates would win 5-4 in 11 innings, but the massive homer from Jones, his sixth of the year, was the big story after the game ended.
