The Pirates have spent years treating PNC Park like a tough place to launch baseballs. This season, they’ve flipped that script.
Pittsburgh has now piled up 84 home runs at PNC Park, breaking the franchise’s previous single-season home mark of 81, which had stood since 2003. The new record came into focus during the Pirates’ 4-3 comeback win over the Detroit Tigers in the series finale on Aug. 19, when catcher Rafael Flores Jr. and second baseman Brandon Lowe delivered the kind of power display that has defined the club’s home surge.
Flores Jr. opened the barrage with his seventh-inning home run, then came through again with a solo shot in the ninth to tie the game. Lowe finished it off with a walk-off home run.
For a team that looked nothing like this in 2025, the turnaround has been dramatic. The Pirates made a point of adding hitters who could handle the dimensions at PNC Park, and two of the clearest examples are Lowe, acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in a trade, and Ryan O’Hearn, who arrived as a free agent.
Lowe leads the club with 14 home runs at PNC Park, while O’Hearn is right behind him with 13. Together, they’ve accounted for 27 home runs, or 32% of Pittsburgh’s home output at home this season. Both are left-handed hitters, and both have taken advantage of the 21-foot Roberto Clemente right field wall, with nearly all of their home runs coming at PNC Park.
Lowe has already delivered several big swings there, including a two-run homer against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 15 in an 11-9 extra-inning loss. O’Hearn’s biggest home showing came on July 7 against the Atlanta Braves, when he blasted three home runs and drove in 10 runs in a 12-4 win. That included a grand slam and two three-run homers, and it made him just the 11th player in MLB history and the first Pirates player to drive in 10 runs in a single game.
The list behind them includes the expected names and a few eye-openers.
One of the biggest surprises has been rookie right-handed batter Esmerlyn Valdez, who has hit nine of his 14 home runs this season at PNC Park. His power has shown up to both sides of the park, including two opposite-field shots, a 461-foot blast to deep center field that ranks as the seventh-longest home run in PNC Park history, two other homers to center, and four to left field.
Switch-hitter Bryan Reynolds ranks third on the team with seven home runs at home. That group includes a right-handed walk-off, two-run homer in a 6-5 win over the Minnesota Twins on May 29, along with another right-handed shot to left field, two left-handed homers to center, one to right-center and two to right field.
Marcell Ozuna finished with six home runs at PNC Park, while the injured left-handed pair of Oneil Cruz and Spencer Horwitz also have six apiece. Pirates catchers Henry Davis and Flores have combined for nine home runs, and the remaining home runs are spread across three players with three each and five players with one each.
The broader power numbers tell the same story. Pittsburgh has hit 155 home runs overall, tied for ninth-most in MLB and sixth in the National League.
That’s a major jump from last season, when the Pirates hit just 117 home runs, the fewest in baseball and 31 fewer than the next team. Their home total has climbed even more sharply, from 49 last season to 84 this year.
There are still 15 games left at PNC Park in 2026, including a six-game homestand against the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels from Sept. 1-6, followed by a nine-game stretch over 10 days against the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals from Sept. 15-24.
Pittsburgh is still 12 home runs shy of the all-time franchise home mark of 95, set at Forbes Field in 1947, when Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner led the club with 28 home runs. But with 84 homers in 66 games, a rate of 1.3 per game, the Pirates are tracking toward 103 home runs at PNC Park this season - a total that would clear the record with room to spare.
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