Joey Gallo and Josh Bell compared muscles after blasting homers to the Allegheny River

By Andrew Mearns @mearnspsa

May 8, 2019

Even though he's only 25, Joey Gallo already has a well-deserved reputation for crushing monster homers. He can take a pitch out of any ballpark, and some of them fly impressive distances.

Gallo reached a personal milestone in the third inning on Wednesday against the Pirates when he bashed the 100th long ball of his career. True to form, the shot sailed out of PNC Park, over the right-center-field fence and bounced into the Allegheny River:

That will turn some heads. At 443 feet, it was Gallo's second-longest homer of the year.

The message was sent, so it was time for the Pirates' own super slugger to answer. Josh Bell doesn't quite have the same name recognition as Gallo, but he's no stranger to the tape-measure shot. He's launched more than his share of homers into the Allegheny, and with a .986 OPS through 32 games, he's off to the hottest start of his young career.

When Bell stepped up to bat against Shelby Miller in the fourth, he matched Gallo's mash -- and then some:

You thought bouncing a ball into the river was good? Try hitting it on the fly. The 472-footer was just the fourth in PNC Park history to do so, and Bell now has two of the five longest homers ever hit there.

Thankfully, Gallo is not a jealous man. If anyone can respect a moonshot like that, it's him. So when Gallo reached Bell at first base after a walk during the next inning, he gave Bell's prodigious muscles a nice squeeze:

Game recognize game. pic.twitter.com/Ud8x9bMrqE

— Cut4 (@Cut4) May 8, 2019

"Game recognize game" is right. Gallo has hit plenty of true wallops, but hey, Bell got him this time.

Don't worry, guys -- there's plenty of dinger admiration to go around. We love you both equally.