Joey Bart’s walk-off single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 13th inning lifted the host Pittsburgh Pirates to a 2-1 comeback victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon.
Bart lifted a deep fly ball, which landed just out of the reach of left fielder Lars Nootbar to allow Alexander Canario to score easily.
It was Bart’s first career walk-off hit.
The Pirates loaded the bases after Canario and Bryan Reynolds drew walks, moving automatic runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa to third. Andrew McCutchen grounded to second and Kiner-Falefa was retired on a force out at the plate. But then Bart delivered one batter later off reliever Chris Roycroft (0-2).
The Pirates took two of three from their National League Central division rivals and won despite being no-hit for 6 2/3 innings and one-hit for 8 2/3 innings.
Cardinals’ starter Erick Fedde, who walked four and struck out two, was pulled after six no-hit innings and 88 pitches.
Reliever Phil Maton came in to replace Fedde and picked up a pair of strikeouts, but then Endy Rodriguez singled to right to end the no-hit bid.
Pirates starter Mitch Keller put together his own stellar outing, allowing four hits and one walk over 7 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out six.
Wednesday’s game was the first to reach the 12th inning scoreless since the automatic runner in extra innings rule was instituted.
Jordan Walker’s RBI single in the top of the 12th off Justin Lawrence (1-0) gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. The Pirates answered, however, in the bottom half when Tommy Pham singled to score Ke’Bryan Hayes to tie the game.
Bart’s heroics came after he was involved in a scary moment in the top of the eighth.
Cardinals designated hitter Willson Contreras popped up near the plate. Rodriguez came racing in from first base to try and catch it and collided with Bart, allowing the ball to drop in fair territory. Hayes, however, made a heads-up play and tagged out Thomas Saggese before he could cross the plate to end the inning.
Both Bart and Rodriguez were down for a few seconds but remained in the game.
