PITTSBURGH (Interstat) — Ryan O’Hearn homered three times and drove in 10 runs, powering the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 12-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, at PNC Park in front of 20,281 fans.

The victory lifted Pittsburgh to 47-45, while Atlanta dropped to 52-38. The game lasted 2 hours, 37 minutes.

O’Hearn’s first-inning grand slam off Atlanta starter Hurston Waldrep gave the Pirates a 4-1 lead. He added a three-run homer in the third inning and another three-run shot in the sixth, becoming the primary force in Pittsburgh’s rout. The first baseman finished 4 for 5 with three home runs and a single, matching a career high in RBI.

Waldrep, making his major league debut, lasted just one inning plus two batters in the second before being lifted. He allowed four runs on two hits and three walks with one strikeout. The loss was his first decision of the season.

Pittsburgh starter Paul Skenes worked six innings, allowing two runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and no walks. He improved to 7-8 on the season. Carmen Mlodzinski followed with two scoreless innings, allowing no hits and striking out two.

Atlanta took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Matt Olson doubled and scored on Mauricio Dubón’s single. But Pittsburgh answered immediately. After Jake Mangum was hit by a pitch, Brandon Lowe singled and Bryan Reynolds walked to load the bases. O’Hearn then launched a grand slam to right-center field.

The Braves cut the deficit to 4-2 in the third inning. Michael Harris II doubled and scored on Ozzie Albies’ single. Pittsburgh responded again in the bottom half. Reynolds walked, Esmerlyn Valdez singled, and O’Hearn hit his second home run of the game, a three-run shot to center.

Pittsburgh blew the game open in the sixth. Mangum singled, Lowe singled, and after two fly outs, O’Hearn homered again to right, scoring three more runs to make it 10-2.

The Pirates added a run in the seventh on Lowe’s RBI single, and a run in the eighth on Nick Gonzales’ single. Atlanta scored twice in the ninth on Mike Yastrzemski’s two-run single, but it was too little, too late.

Atlanta’s Harris had two hits, including a double. Dubón finished with two hits and an RBI. Yastrzemski drove in two. Olson doubled. Atlanta grounded into two double plays.

For Pittsburgh, Lowe went 3 for 5 with an RBI. Gonzales had two hits and an RBI. Valdez singled and walked twice. Mangum scored twice and was hit by a pitch.

Waldrep was lifted after 1 1/3 innings. Connor Thomas came on in relief and allowed four runs on five hits over 3 2/3 innings with two strikeouts. Jorge Mateo worked the eighth and gave up one run on three hits.

The Braves entered the game having lost three of their previous four, including a pair of one-run defeats to the New York Mets. The Pirates had won four of their previous five, including a series sweep of the Washington Nationals.

O’Hearn entered the game with modest recent production: a 1-for-2 outing July 5, a 2-for-4 July 4, an 0-for-5 July 3 and a 1-for-5 July 2. He erupted for his first career three-homer game.

The most important sequence of the game occurred in the bottom of the first inning. After Atlanta took a 1-0 lead, Pittsburgh loaded the bases with no outs on a hit batter, a single and a walk. O’Hearn then crushed a 1-0 pitch for a grand slam, flipping the momentum and giving the Pirates a lead they never relinquished. The Braves never led again, and O’Hearn’s subsequent home runs in the third and sixth innings effectively sealed the outcome.

Atlanta’s next 10 games include the final two contests of this series in Pittsburgh on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by a three-game set at St. Louis and then a home stand against Texas and San Diego. Pittsburgh will host Atlanta again Wednesday and Thursday before welcoming Milwaukee for three games, then a road trip to Cleveland and New York.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Pittsburgh 5, Atlanta 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave Atlanta a 53.20 percent probability to win. Pittsburgh had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total score of 16 went under the over/under line of 8.