If there was ever a man who needed a day like today, it was Rowdy Tellez.
The embattled first baseman was routinely being booed in his home stadium as Pirates fans grew more and more restless with the underperforming Tellez.
Mercilessly, vigorously, and angrily an ever growing section of PNC Park booed nearly as soon as his walk up song queued up.
Tellez had been batting an abysmal .200 with an OPS of .519. Though he had started to ever so slightly pick up the pace at the plate, his 1 home run and 12 RBI were still too small of numbers when he arrived to the ballpark on June 8th.
While no one could rightfully question the effort that Tellez was putting in, the results just simply weren’t there. Boos followed him in the previous home series against the LA Dodgers.
That series saw him put up 2 hits in 6 at bats, and was following up a recent 4 RBI game against his old team up north in Toronto.
However, it never felt like a true breakout. At least, not the breakout that Ben Cherington publicly said he still believed was possible.
After sitting the first of a three game weekend homestand vs the Minnesota Twins, Tellez drew into the lineup in his customary first base slot.
Tellez was booed as he stepped to the plate for the first time in the game, and regardless on where you stand on booing your own team, Rowdy didn’t do any favors when he grounded into a double play that took down Nick Gonzales with him.
It also didn’t get any better when boos preceded a Tellez strikeout that ended the fourth inning.
Defensively, he was doing his job at first base. But no matter how good you are defensively, it can only distract so much from the drag a player can be on the offense (Michael A. Taylor is a quieter but similar subject of that conversation).
Coming on for the seventh inning, with one out, Tellez was back at the plate. Boos galore. And then it happened.
Tellez smacked a ball to deep center field to break a scoreless ballgame and put the Pirates on top. The crowd roared in a way they had never done for him before.
Sitting in the lower bowl, it almost sounded as if a faint “Row-dy! Row-dy!” chant had broken out, but I couldn’t be sure.
That one run lead was helpful, but even as the Pirates’ bullpen game had been going better than expected, it still was shaky ground for a Bucs team to have such a narrow lead.
No problem for Rowdy, who I’m sure was experiencing an unspeakable amount of relief after seeing just the second home run of his harsh Pirates tenure.
An Oneil Cruz walk and Ke’Bryan Hayes single had set runners up at first and second with Tellez back up to bat. For the first time all day (and quite frankly, much longer than that), he was greeted with cheers.
Tellez would hit a ground ball to left field that scored both runners, making him responsible for all 3 of Pittsburgh’s runs on the day at that point.
There was no doubt after that hit that the crowd was indeed chanting “Row-dy! Row-dy!”
It was a reaction that Tellez had never been able to garner at PNC Park. Imagine telling somebody before today’s game that fans would actively be chanting Rowdy’s name.
Tellez would be driven in by Michael A. Taylor, who added some run support for the first time in a long while for him.
Tellez finished his day with 2 hits, a homer, 3 RBI, and the best memory at PNC Park he’s had so far this season.
In the postgame interview, Tellez smiled as fans continued the Rowdy chants. When asked about them, Tellez said; “It’s been awesome. I’ve been trying everything I can to put pride in this jersey, to play for these people. To hear that, it’s been special, and a little emotional.”
It’s hard to predict whether this game can actually be the turnaround that the Pirates have desperately needed for Tellez. Both the organization and the fans been fooled before, when one good game did not lead to any in the near future.
But if it ever is going to happen, it feels like this game is going to be the spark. His other flash in the pan moments may have looked just a bit better on the stat sheet, but none of them carried the emotional weight that this one did.
None of them happened with the backdrop of fans chanting his name.
None of them felt this impactful.
(This article was entirely written and published while sitting in my car on the roof of a parking lot. There ain’t no traffic like Pittsburgh traffic)
Fifth Avenue Sports 
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