It’s been quite the week for Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Tommy Pham.
In Monday’s series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays, Pham was involved in a heated argument with Blue Jays catcher Tyler Heineman, causing both benches to clear. Pham flipped his bat after drawing a walk, apparently because he didn’t like Heineman complaining about a call earlier in the at-bat.
Pham continued to go off on social media after the game, later deleting his posts. He was held out of Tuesday’s game, which the Pirates lost 7-3.
The veteran outfielder returned to the lineup for Wednesday’s series finale at PNC Park. When he came to bat in the bottom of the first, Toronto fans booed him.
Pham immediately silenced them with a go-ahead two-run double, which proved to be the difference in Pittsburgh’s 2-1 series-clinching win.
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After the game, Pham was asked if he fed off the jeers from the road fans.
“I got booed every game here in the first half, so I guess that wasn’t anything new to me,” Pham said. “That’s just the truth. I got booed every day here in the first half, so, oh well.”
After signing a one-year, $4.03 million deal with the Pirates last offseason, the 37-year-old got off to a slow start with his new team. Through June 19, he was hitting .194/.278/.219 with no home runs, nine RBI and 47 strikeouts in 51 games, drawing criticism from frustrated Pittsburgh fans.
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Pham’s been much better since then, batting .338 with 16 extra-base hits and 27 RBI over his last 42 games to turn his season around.
While he’s won over Pirates fans with his recent resurgence, he’s not very popular with Blue Jays fans right now.
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Featured image via Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images