Day 18

Today was just about the halfway point. We have 19 days left on the trip, we saw our 15th game, and we have traveled a little over 9,000 miles. It’s hard to believe we have been living out of this car for over two weeks. 

The drive from DC to Pittsburgh is only 4 hours, so we once again got to sleep in a bit before once again packing the car. We checked into our hotel as the thunderstorms the weather channel predicted began. We are quite a determined bunch, so Tim set to coming up with a contingency plan. We had two options if the Pirates game were to be rained out: we could move around our Detroit and Toronto games and hotels to see a Pirates game on an upcoming free day or we could skip our visit to Omaha and drive from Minneapolis to Pittsburgh in the last few days of our trip. Neither would be very enjoyable, but they were both doable options. 

As soon as we finalized the back up plans, the rain stopped. But, that’s how it always works, doesn’t it. We had been told to eat at Pirmanti Brothers when we were in town for a sandwich. This isn’t your typical sandwich. This is a just fits in your hand monster loaded with meat, cheese, fries, cole slaw, and tomatoes. It was delicious! 

Pittsburgh has a lot of bridges in it, and we got to walk across one, much to Megan’s enjoyment, to get to PNC Park. We did our customary walk around the park and were excited for the game to begin. The Pirates were playing the Brewers tonight. This game was the only time we would see the Brewers on the road. Little did we know when the game began that this would be the longest game of our trip so far. 

In the second or third inning it began to rain a bit. Nothing terrible, just a little worse than a drizzle. The teams played through that, but an official rain delay was called during the 4th inning. Well, a rain delay happened, the Pirates never officially announced that there was a rain delay, unlike the other parks we have experienced them at. It would have been nice to have more information. We got a little worried at this point, because for a game to be considered a full game, it has to be at least 5 innings. This delay was our 4th of the trip, and the shortest so far. It only lasted about half an hour. The tarp was removed, and the game began again. 
  The game was moving pretty slow. The Brewers were winning 1-0 and the rain continued to soak the field. We made it through a few more innings, dealing with precipitation ranging from a light mist to a steady downfall, and in the start of the 8th inning the 2nd rain delay of the game and our 5th of the trip was once again called. 
We had a fun enough time up in our seats, but since the entirety of the remaining fans in attendance could fit in one section in the 100 level of the stadium, we decided to move down to the field. We hung out by the Brewers dug out and tried to get their attention. Megan was decked out in Brewers apparel and with the help of our sign we got some head nods of approval from the players. 
  After the grounds crew teased the stadiums a few times by partially taking the tarp off to add more dirt, it was determined the game would resume. At this point, it was nearly midnight. The game started at 7:05. We grabbed some seats right along the warning track, until a very grumpy Pirates staff member informed us that we could not in fact sit in these very open seats, we moved back a bit. 
We have never been in a stadium that was so quiet. The few hundred of us left could be heard shouting across the stadium. If you wanted a player to know what you thought of them, they would be sure to hear you, as there wasn’t the typical roar of 40,000 people drowning you out. Whenever Ryan Braun came up to bat, he definitely got the worst of the heckling from Pirates and Brewers fans alike. 
It was now raining harder than it was during the actual rain delay and the Brewers scored their second and final run of the game. The crowd got a few takes at a wave (which was the funniest version we have seen yet with all the empty space). And finally the game came to an end with the Brewers beating the Pirates 2-0. 

After a damp walk, we got back to the car, successfully figured out how to use the ticket system to exit the structure, and went back to the hotel after our 5 hour and 10 minute baseball game.