White Sox crash Clemente Day celebration, beat Pirates

Caught up in the pageantry of celebrating Roberto Clemente Day and what it meant to Puerto Rico and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Derek Shelton shared that it felt like a national holiday.

Then the Pirates rookie manager worried about whether his team would take the night off, focusing more on wearing No. 21 for the first time than maintaining their momentum after back-to-back walk-off wins.

The Pirates looked the part but didn’t play it as James McCann homered twice and the White Sox crashed the celebration with an 8-1 victory on Wednesday night at PNC Park.

“Today was a special day for the Pirates and for baseball and the Clemente family,” Shelton said. “I don’t think it had any effect on the game. We just didn’t play very well.”

The Pirates players and coaches wore No. 21 for the first time since 1972, when the Hall of Fame right fielder died in a plane crash while on a humanitarian mission to Nicaragua. The pregame ceremonies included a ceremonial first pitch from Puerto Rico and a moment of silence for his late wife, Vera, before the national anthem.

“It’s an honor,” Pirates starter JT Brubaker said. “It’s something coming up through the Pirates that you learn about. Roberto did so much for the community outside of the and how awesome he was as a teammate, how amazing he was on the field. To be able to wear his number, a number that’s retired here at PNC (Park) in Pittsburgh, it’s unbelievable to be able to wear it. Wish things would’ve went a little differently to honor the number better, but it was still an honor to wear that number.”

The White Sox battered Brubaker for seven runs on seven hits and two walks. It was the first career multi-homer game for McCann, who went 2 for 3 with a sacrifice fly and four RBIs. McCann started the third inning by driving a 1-1 curveball 409 feet to to dead center for his fourth home run and a 1-0 lead.

The White Sox added four runs in the fourth, when Brubaker allowed four hits and two walks. Yoan Moncada started the rally with a single to right field that Gregory Polanco mishandled, taking second on the error and scoring on Yasmani Grandal’s single through the middle for a 2-0 lead.

The White Sox challenged when Jose Abreu was called out at first on a grounder to second, and a video review overturned the call and allowed Abreu to extend his hitting streak to 22 games. Brubaker walked Eloy Jimenez to load the bases, and McCann hit a one-out sacrifice fly to center to make it 3-0. Brubaker loaded the bases again by walking Nomar Mazara, and Nick Madrigal singled for a 5-0 lead.

McCann added a two-run homer off Brubaker in the sixth, driving it 423 feet to left for a 7-0 lead. That was the last of 98 pitches for Brubaker, who had five strikeouts in 5¹⁄₃ innings. Tyler Bashlor didn’t fare much better as Moncada doubled down the left-field line to score Mazara and make it 8-0.

Dane Dunning limited the Pirates to three hits in six innings but was pulled after Colin Moran’s leadoff double in the seventh. Moran reached third on a wild pitch by Gio Gonzalez but was stranded when Ke’Bryan Hayes struck out, and Kevin Newman grounded out. The bases were loaded with two outs in the eighth for Polanco when McCann was called for catcher’s interference, scoring JT Riddle to make it 8-1.

Shelton wasn’t satisfied with the result but believes the Pirates sent a message to the baseball world about the importance of Roberto Clemente and why his No. 21 should be retired.

“I think we 100% made a statement,” Shelton said. “The fact of being able to honor Clemente, seeing all the 21s out there and being able to make a statement not only in Pittsburgh but in Puerto Rico and for baseball. This is a monumental step for our organization being able to honor the Clemente family — not just Roberto but Vera also. So yeah, I think we made a really big step forward and it was something very cool to be a part of. Obviously the game didn’t end up the way we wanted but (it) was a monumental night.”