Perrotto: Joey Bart Makes His Mother Proud

PITTSBURGH – Joey Bart’s father was a star athlete at Burrell High School. However, the Pittsburgh Pirates catcher got his competitive drive from his mother.

“She’s pushed me harder than anybody, way harder than my dad,” Bart said. “When I was young, she came after me and saw something in me. I can’t take that for granted. As well as my brothers, too, three boys.

“Love my dad. He’s an awesome guy, hell of a ballplayer, but she’s the one that really pushed us. Forever thankful for that.”

It’s safe to say that Karen Bart was proud on Sunday as her son knocked in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Pirates a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Mother’s Day at PNC Park.

The Pirates blew a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning when pinch-hitter Sean Murphy had a three-run double off Joey Wentz. However, the Pirates answered an inning later to win with a rally against closer Raisel Iglesias.

Pinch hitter Adam Frazier and Ke’Bryan Hayes hit back-to-back singles to lead off, putting runners on the corners. Hayes advanced to second on Bryan Reynolds’ ground out, and Andrew McCutchen was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Bart then hit a hard ground ball that hit off the glove of shortstop Nick Allen. Allen recovered and made a throw to home plate, but Frazier beat it to score the winning run.

The official scorer originally credited Bart with a single, which would have been his third hit of the game, before changing the call to a fielder’s choice. Regardless, it was the second walk-off RBI of Bart’s career.

“Well, it starts with Frazier coming off the bench, doing that,” Bart said. “That’s one of the hardest things in sports, to come off the bench, get a pinch hit against a closer. Good things happen when you put the ball in play, and that’s what happened there in the ninth.”

Bart, the cleanup hitter, also had an RBI single to cap a three-run fifth inning against reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale as the Pirates took a 3-0 lead.

However, Frazier got the Pirates going in the ninth from the bottom of the batting order. Even though they won, the Pirates scored four runs or fewer for an 18^th straight game, tying the franchise record set in 1908.

“Just got to trust that one through nine, somebody’s going to come through, Bart said. “And that’s the message. It’s not always going to be the guys in the middle of order. Someone at the bottom, someone off the bench is going to come through. That’s why they’re in this uniform. These lockers are earned. So, we’ve got guys that should feel confident getting the job done.”

Bart also got the job done behind the plate as Carmen Mlodzinski pitched a career-high 5.2 innings in the best of his eight starts this season. Mlodzinski held the Braves scoreless while allowing four hits, striking out two, and walking one.

Mlodzinski felt the key to his outing was Bart calling an aggressive game and having the right-hander rely on his fastball.

“Just make sure we’re utilizing our strengths,” Mlodzinski said. “I think I’ve fallen into a pattern a little bit this year of pitching to weaknesses and kind of losing what I do as a pitcher.

“(Bart) just kind of reaffirmed that, ‘you know, your strengths are good. You’ve been in the big leagues a few years now and don’t waver away from what got you here and what’s kept you here.’”

Advice that Karen Bart would approve of.