Joey Bart didn’t just deliver a walk-off win — he delivered a postgame quote that’s already becoming legend in Pittsburgh. “Chest hair, gut’s out. Bucs win, baby. C’mon!” Bart shouted after smacking a walk-off single in the 13th inning of the Pirates’ 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday at PNC Park.

The hit marked the first walk-off of Bart’s MLB career — and it capped a wild afternoon of gritty baseball that earned the Pirates their first series win of the season. Bart’s deep fly to left drove in Andrew McCutchen from third, snapping a tense 3-hour, 23-minute marathon. And after 13 innings of squatting behind the plate, Bart had no problem going all in to end it.

“It was just best on best in that situation,” Bart said. “I was probably as loose as I was all day… Luckily, I got a ball in the air. I was just glad it was far enough to get a run across.”

Pirates walk off the Cardinals after a chaotic day

Pittsburgh Pirates teammates celebrate with catcher Joey Bart (shirtless) after Bart hit a game winning walk off single to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals in the thirteenth inning at PNC Park.
Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The game featured everything: stellar pitching, aggressive baserunning, clutch defense — and, of course, some chaotic moments. Pirates starter Mitch Keller rebounded from a rough outing against the Yankees to throw seven shutout innings with five strikeouts and three hits allowed. He notched his 700th career strikeout along the way, becoming the fastest pitcher in club history to reach that mark in terms of innings pitched (718 1/3), breaking Bob Veale’s record.

“You could just tell that was the kind of game it was going to be from the jump,” Keller said. “Really happy about it. More excited about the team win today.”

The Pirates got key defensive plays throughout the game, none more head-turning than Ke’Bryan Hayes’ alert tag at the plate in the eighth. After a high pop-up landed between Bart and Endy Rodriguez, Hayes swooped in to tag out Thomas Saggese before he could score.

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“You want to talk about an 80-grade play in awareness?” manager Derek Shelton said. “That’s it.”

Bart admitted he was as confused as anyone.

“I don’t even know what happened,” he said. “I didn’t know who I hit. I didn’t see the ball. I don’t think anyone saw the ball.”

The Cardinals scored first in the 12th, but Tommy Pham tied the game with a two-out RBI single to left. Pham also threw out a runner at home earlier, preserving the tie in extras.

Bart nearly ended the game in the 11th with a single to right, but Lars Nootbaar threw out Alexander Canario at the plate. One inning later, Bart made sure no one could stop him — not even the wind swirling at chilly PNC Park.

“Sometimes they’re not pretty,” Shelton said, “but we’ll take it.”

And Bart? He’ll take the win — shirtless if he has to.