As A.J. Burnett walked off the mound after the third inning Thursday night, his first start since an elbow injury derailed his All-Star season in July, a bat signal appeared behind him, glowing green above the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel’s iconic arch.
It was a theatrical moment dozens at PNC Park had anxiously anticipated, a secretly planned show of support three days in the making. When Burnett, a lifelong Batman enthusiast, took the field again in the fourth, he saw smaller bat signals lighting up the Gulf Tower and Penn Avenue Place.
“That’s by far the coolest thing that’s happened to me in my career,” Burnett said after the game.