Perrotto: An Unimaginably Terrible Night at PNC Park

PITTSBURGH – A lot of bad things are happening around the Pittsburgh Pirates this season.

The Roberto Clemente/Surfside fiasco. The Bucco Bricks fiasco.

Periodic “Sell the Team” chants have broken out at PNC Park during the Pirates’ 12-19 start. The fans’ frustration with owner Bob Nutting and his management team of club president Travis Williams, general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton is at an all-time high.

However, it all paled to what occurred on Wednesday night at PNC Park when real life intruded on what is supposed to 2 ½ hours-plus of diversion.

A fan fell from the top of the 21-foot Roberto Clemente Wall in right field during the seventh inning of the Pirates’ 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs. The man flipped over the railing in front of the stands and landed on the warning track.

The game was delayed 10 minutes while medical personnel tended to the man, and he was taken to nearby Allegheny General Hospital.

Regardless of the social media chatter, it is doubtful that too many people in the ballpark saw exactly what happened. The fan fell just as Andrew McCutchen was legging out a two-run double that deflected off sliding Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson and into right-center field.

All eyes were on McCutchen coming through with what turned out to be the winning hit. However, the cheers that accompanied the Pirates turning a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead abruptly ended once it became clear there was an injured fan on the warning track.

The final two innings seemed to play out in a mental fog as the Pirates ended their three-game losing streak. Players from both sides were still shaken after the game.

When reporters approached McCutchen in the Pirates’ clubhouse, he said none of the players wanted to address the incident. The media then left the room.

There was an air of somberness in the Cubs’ clubhouse. Right fielder Kyle Tucker, the player closest to the injured fan, had already left when reporters were admitted to the clubhouse.

However, Swanson eloquently said what many players on both sides had to be feeling.

“All we could do was just pray for a good, strong recovery for him and his family,” Swanson said. “I have never been part of something like that before, and I hope I am never part of something like that again.

“It’s a humble reminder of the gratitude we should all have to play this game. Folks obviously come out to support us, and they are a big reason why we are able to do what we do. It’s obviously tough. At a time like that, you want (the fans) to know you love them.”

Sadly, there were cold-hearted people on social media showing their hate, opining that the fan was drunk and intentionally hurled himself over the fence.

I don’t know what happened. The press box is at the highest point of PNC Park, and I could not tell what was going on in the right-field stands.

For the second time in my 38 years of covering Major League Baseball, I left the ballpark with my stomach in knots.

The other time was during my first year in 1988 when a fan was killed during a Pirates’ spring training game at what was then known as McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Fla. The fan ran out onto busy 9th Street West behind home plate to chase a foul ball and was struck by a car.

I’ll always remember hearing the brakes squealing and the thud of the car hitting the fan. I still haven’t gotten that moment out of my head 37 years later.

And I don’t think I’ll be getting over what happened on Wednesday night anytime soon.