The increased number of paying customers who walked through the PNC Park gates on Tuesday wearing navy blue, red and gray was plenty obvious when the Yankees took the field and former Pirate Jameson Taillon warmed up to his longtime entrance song — "When the Levee Breaks," by Led Zeppelin, a touching nod by the in-game production staff.
A Yankees home game? Sure felt like it, for a little while anyway.
It was also noticeable with every move larger-than-life stars such as Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton made early on, New York's supersized outfielders looking every bit like the dominant players that they are, the former leading everyone in homers with 29.
But by the time the 6-foot-7 Judge bounced a ball to second base in the seventh inning, it was a different set of fans that rose out of their seats in anticipation yelling "two, two, two," and it was a different 6-foot-7 specimen who did something impressive, this time Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz whipping a throw to first.
Those final two outs were among the more clutch ones in the Pirates' 5-2 victory over the Yankees on Tuesday, a win that was every bit as fulfilling as it was improbable.
"It's nice to hear the reaction when something goes well," Daniel Vogelbach said. "It's nice, too, to hear when some people are against you. That makes it fun. But inside, you should be able to get yourself ready to play and bring it every single night."
The Pirates brought it from a couple different angles in this one, starting with starting pitcher José Quintana, Pittsburgh's $2 million, bargain-basement signing this offseason. The Yankees probably find more money between the cushions of their clubhouse couch, but who cares?
Quintana was superb Tuesday, delivering five innings of one-run ball, walking none and striking out seven. It felt, in a few ways, like an audition, the veteran Quintana providing a blueprint for how he might help a contender.
If you closed your eyes and imagined, it also felt a little like another soft-tossing, veteran left-hander, the early days of Francisco Liriano, if only the Pirates might be able to keep Quintana around and convince him to sign.
Tuesday also featured the impressive sight and sound of Vogelbach's solo homer off former Taillon in the second inning. Vogelbach caught a fastball middle-in and crushed it to the seats atop the Clemente Wall, as fans erupted in full-throated roar.
Vogelbach offered one of two loud swings on the night, the other belonging to young Jack Suwinski, who crushed a Taillon changeup in the fourth inning.
Both came with full counts, as the Pirates increased their number of full-count homers this season to 19, second in MLB behind the Braves (21).
"Vogelbach, the heater kind of ran back a little bit," Taillon said. "I got beat on a 3-2 changeup away [to Suwinski]. Probably could have gotten that pitch down a little bit better. Whatever. He put a good swing on it.
"They put together a game plan against me and played a really solid game."
That the Pirates did, hitting Taillon's mistakes and making hardly any of their own, easily one of the team's cleanest games of the year.
It was also one of the loudest, as the momentum shifted to the Pirates' side. As Pittsburgh continued to roll, it almost felt like Yankees fans switched out of those navy blue, red and gray colors and traded them black and gold, the building rocking in a way that should've been plenty familiar to Gerrit Cole in the Yankees dugout.
"That was definitely a nice crowd," Taillon, his good buddy, said.
"Man, that's what you play for," Pirates reliever Duane Underwood Jr. added. "The environment, the adrenaline, the crowd's into it, you're obviously into it. It's just a beautiful thing."
If the double play to get Judge in the seventh got the ball rolling, the enthusiasm ratcheted up a couple of notches in the eighth inning when, after allowing one run, Underwood Jr. struck out left fielder Aaron Hicks swinging on a 2-2 changeup out of the zone. That, too, stranded a runner in scoring position.
"I had spiked a couple changeups in the previous at-bat," Underwood Jr. said. "I knew my changeup would work well against Hicks. I really just wanted to get the thing down, get it down in the zone, get some swings and misses and weak contact."
The noise was a welcome reprieve from some of the quiet nights we've seen here over the past few years, the conversations or arguments that could be heard in the press box, the heckling of players where those on the field could hear so clearly they could've detected a yinzer accent from several decks away.
That sort of solitude was nowhere to be found in the ninth inning, when David Bednar jogged in to "Renegade" the way it was originally intended: loud and pumping up the fans.
That group remained faithfully engaged through the final pitch, gasping in anticipation when Diego Castillo nearly turned a game-inning double play and Bednar caught Judge looking on a curveball to end it.
The Pirates, amazingly, are now 6-1 against two of the best teams in baseball, the Dodgers and Yankees.
"It was cool," Bednar said. "Coming to games growing up, you know that energy. It was really cool to play in front of that type of crowd. To come out on top [Tuesday] was even better."
