On a recent Monday night, the Pirates played host to the Milwaukee Brewers for the first time this season. The game drew 10,672 paying fans to PNC Park.
At first glance, the lean crowd wasn’t especially unusual. Attendance has been soft for much of the season, and several games had attracted smaller crowds to the ballpark.
Still, unlike some sparsely attended Pirates games earlier this season, June 18 was a hot summer evening, not a cold or snowy spring day. School was out for the summer. The Pirates were facing a playoff contender and a division foe; the Brewers had a slim lead atop the National League Central.