On Saturday, the Pirates called up AAA pitcher Brandon Cumpton to make a start against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Adding another pitcher was huge, seeing that the starting rotation was slowly settling in with super-rook Gerrit Cole making his vaunted debut earlier in the week. Cumpton one-upped his more-highly-lauded teammate in the strikeout department, striking out the side in the first inning before felling another two in the second.
Cole's win beat out Cumpton's no-decision.
And then since the Pirates are in the National League, Cumpton came up to bat in the bottom of the second. Spoiler Alert: he didn't do anything of note. So Gerrit Cole and his 2-RBI debut at-bat won that round.
But where Gerrit won on skill, Cumpton won on style. Here's shoddy footage I grabbed of Cumpton's first-ever walk-up to the plate:
For those of you that can't recognize the thumping beat or just haven't listened to it a jillion times like yours truly, that's Cumpton using Andrew W.K.'s "Party Hard" on his way to bat. You cannot make a better entrance than that. If Cumpton stood backwards and held the bat upside down, it still would have been the greatest at-bat in the majors all year.
And now Andrew W.K. himself is tweeting GO PIRATES!
Had I not stopped adding things to this blog's title at its inception, it very well might have been Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies and Andrew W.K. Music. And then I would have to add Brandon Cumpton to the list and get a whole new website url and domain and everything.
Party Hard.
Go Buccos.
