11. PNC Park - August 21, 2017

Wow. This trip. I spent more time driving to each city than I did sitting in a seat watching games. Though, the first game going 12 innings made it closer.

The genesis of this 4-game swing was to cross off as many stadiums as possible in the shortest amount of time. Pittsburgh and Cleveland aren't a far drive from me, but only two stadiums wouldn't be worth that driving. Detroit and Cincinnati were just a couple of hours away from each other, so I did some planning and found the best route and schedule to visit those four in four days (not counting driving there and back).

The trip to Pitt wasn't bad. It took me about six hours, stopping for gas and food included. I arrived on Sunday, so I had an extra day in Pitt. I didn't want to get there and then have to leave for the game right away. The hotel I stayed at was about 15 minutes away from the ballpark, took two highways and next thing I know, I'm driving along the Allegheny River. Shout out to the Comfort Inn, excellent quality.

I found a nice $9 lot off of 9th Street. There were plenty of garages to park in and for cheap considering it was game day. I walked around for a few before heading to the stadium. I like the feel of downtown Pittsburgh. It's obviously a city but I got this small-town feel from it. I can't explain it but it just felt "home-y." It was very clean, too.

The Pittsburgh skyline from my seat

There is a lot to do before the game, so you can definitely make a day out of visiting Pittsburgh. Plenty of places to eat. I was very hungry so I couldn't wait for the game. I grabbed a pulled pork sandwich and a beer. No hot dog review for this park.

If you park on the other side of the river, you'll have plenty of ways to cross to get to the park. The most famous is the Roberto Clemente Bridge. That's the way I took. Along the bridge was hundreds of padlocks on both sides of the bridge, couldn't find the meaning to this. At the end of the bridge is a statue of Roberto Clemente. You could also take the 7th and 9th Street bridges, but they are a little further away.

The cool thing I noticed is that people docked their boats on the water and went to the game. That's awesome.

Enough already. It's time to talk about the stadium.

I entered from center field. Considering my seat was behind home plate, I had two ways to go. I went left, heading towards right field. I think I made the right choice. This area was called the Riverwalk, as it's along the river. There are restaurants and tables to relax at before getting into the actual stadium.

I sat in Section 319, slightly to the left of home plate. It was the perfect view. In previous games, I was getting seats as close as I could but not get a full view of the stadium. Just look at my pictures from Baltimore, Los Angeles and some others.

Sitting that high up did not take away from my view of the field and game. I also got the best view possible of the bridge and Pittsburgh skyline. That was the focus for all four ballparks, get the full scope of the field and backdrop. Pittsburgh definitely had the best of both.

The view of the field from my seat (zoomed in on by camera)

As for the game, the Pittsburgh Pirates welcomed the Los Angeles Dodgers. The starting pitchers were Alex Wood (LAD) and Gerrit Cole (PIT). They lasted 6.0 and 6.1 innings, respectively. It was then a bullpen game as the two teams combined to use 12 relief pitchers.

The Pirates started off the bottom of the second with back-to-back home runs from Jose Osuna and Sean Rodriguez. They added a third run from a Josh Harrison solo shot in the 3rd.

The Dodgers took a 5-3 lead in the 7th. Corey Seager hit an RBI single. Two batters later, the recently acquired Curtis Granderson hit a grand slam. The Pirates tied it up in the bottom of the 8th.

Neither team would score again until the top of the 12th when Yasiel Puig hit a home run. Ross Stripling recorded the save to end the game.

The home runs were fun and the Pirates tying the game was exciting but staying in my seat for 4 hours and 35 minutes wasn't fun. After all the driving the day before and the driving I had to do the next day, this was not favorable.

Overall, just walking over the bridge and entering the stadium immediately put this in my top 5. With the view from my seat, it'll be tough to keep it outside of my top 3. If you get the chance, visit this ballpark as soon as you can. There's history mixed with modern features to make this a great ball park.