Pirates React To Wild Collision That Ended Up Having Good Result

Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Joey Bart couldn’t believe the end result.

Bart was laid out on the dirt just a few feet from home plate after getting trucked by first baseman Endy Rodríguez. The two were involved in a major collision after trying to catch an infield pop-up, which Bart couldn’t locate at first off the bat.

The jarring hit knocked the ball out of Rodríguez’s glove before he could secure it and with the ball being initially touched in fair territory, it was a live play. St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Thomas Saggese looked to take full advantage and break a scoreless deadlock in the top of the eighth inning by trying to score all the way from second.

But Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes made a terrific heads-up play to save the day. Hayes quickly chased down the loose ball and applied the tag as Saggese, who had to avoid both Bart and Rodríguez in the basepath, slid into home to end the inning. It was a pivotal play that allowed the Pirates to earn a walk-off win in 13 innings due to a Bart single.

“Ke’Bryan is a crazy smart player,” Bart told reporters, per MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf. “A really, really instinctual player. He has the best internal clock I’ve ever seen by a player on the field. He slows the game down better than anybody. That’s why he is who he is.”

That’s not a situation that the Pirates or Hayes could practice. Hayes, who won a Gold Glove in 2023, just let his instincts take over.

“I just instinctively grabbed the ball and he happened to be right there, so I just tried to tag him,” Hayes told reporters, per Stumpf. “It’s definitely a play I’ve never had happen to me in my life, but I’m just glad we were able to get the out.”