Joey Bart was exhausted from squatting behind the plate for 13 innings, but with the bases loaded and a full count, the Pittsburgh Pirates catcher didn’t hesitate to swing for the fences.

Bart hit a deep fly ball to left field for a single to drive in the winning run and lift the Pirates to a 2-1 walk-off victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon before 8,430 at PNC Park.

It was the third win in four games for the Pirates (5-8), who needed a strong start from Mitch Keller, a pair of dynamic defensive plays to save runs by Gold Glove third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes and Bart’s big hit to finish off the 3-hour, 23-minute game against an NL Central rival to clinch their first series win of the season and six-game homestand split.

“We’ll take it,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Series win, especially in the division. Sometimes they’re not pretty, but it’s a series win. They battled the whole game. Obviously, offensively, we didn’t get a lot going, but we continued to go, which I appreciate.”

Joey Bart wins it for the @Pirates in the 13th inning! pic.twitter.com/dRXYu0Ba0L

— MLB (@MLB) April 9, 2025

The game was scoreless through the first 11 innings before the Cardinals finally took the lead in the 12th. Automatic runner Willson Contreras advanced to third on a balk by lefty Ryan Borucki, who intentionally walked Nolan Arenado to put runners on the corners. The Pirates brought in righty Justin Lawrence to face pinch hitter Jordan Walker, who singled to right to score Contreras for a 1-0 lead.

The Pirates tied it in the bottom of the 12th when Tommy Pham hit a two-out single to left to score automatic runner Hayes from third. Pham also threw a runner out at home from left field in the 10th.

Keller was sharp in his first start since allowing seven runs on eight hits and four walks in 3 2/3 innings in a 9-4 loss to the New York Yankees last Friday in the home opener. He allowed three hits through seven innings, including a six-pitch fourth.

When Victor Scott II hit a two-out single in the second, Keller got Thomas Saggese looking at a called third strike on a fastball outside. After Alec Burleson doubled to the right-field corner in the seventh, Keller got Pedro Pages swinging at a sweeper low and away to record his 700th career strikeout.

“You’re just trying to keep it close,” Keller said. “When Burleson hit that double, the highest-pressure part of the game was trying to keep him there. You can just tell that was the kind of game it was going to be from the jump. It’s a little different.”

Per Elias Sports Bureau, Keller became the fastest pitcher in club history to reach 700 strikeouts, based on innings pitched (718 1/3), breaking Bob Veale’s mark in 740 innings. Only Gerrit Cole (123) and Veale (135) reached the milestone in fewer games than Keller (136).

“It feels like just yesterday I made my debut, so to think 700 strikeouts later, yeah, it’s kind of crazy to be honest,” Keller said. “Really happy about it. More excited about the team win today. Glad we grinded that one out. That was a crazy ballgame, but I’m glad we finished with a ‘W’ instead of losing.”

Cardinals starter Erick Fedde kept the Pirates hitless through six innings, though he gave up four full-count walks against two strikeouts. The Pirates had runners on base in five of his six innings, but Fedde twice got groundouts for double plays.

The no-hitter nearly ended when Tsung-Che Cheng — making his major-league debut — reached on a bouncer to third base, but it was scored an error on 10-time Gold Glove winner Nolan Arenado.

Cheng stole second base on Jack Suwinski’s strikeout, but the Cardinals challenged the call and it was reversed. Fedde finished his outing by striking out Bryan Reynolds to end the sixth.

Phil Maton relieved Fedde in the seventh and struck out Andrew McCutchen before hitting Bart with a pitch. Endy Rodriguez broke up the no-hit bid with a two-out single to right off Maton to put the Pirates in scoring position for the first time, but Adam Frazier lined out to first base to end the inning.

Keller struck out Scott to start the eighth but was pulled after giving up a single to Thomas Saggese and a four-pitch walk to Masyn Winn. The Pirates turned to lefty Caleb Ferguson, who got Lars Nootbaar to fly out to center. That was followed by one of the wilder plays at home plate.

Contreras hit a high pop fly that saw Rodriguez run in from first base to try to catch it only to collide with Bart, the catcher. The ball dropped in fair territory, but third baseman Hayes picked it up and tagged Saggese before he could touch the plate for the final out.

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

Bart was still in disbelief afterward.

“I don’t even know what happened,” Bart said. “I didn’t know who I hit. I didn’t see the ball. I don’t think anyone saw the ball. Finally, found the ball and didn’t hear anybody calling for it so I tried to catch it and ran into somebody. The only thing I remember is looking at the umpire and seeing him with a fist like an out and thinking, ‘How was he out?’ ”

The game went into extra innings, and the Cardinals nearly scored in the top of the 10th, when Pages hit a leadoff single to shallow left field. But Pham’s throw to home plate reached Bart before automatic runner Michael Siani, who was tagged out.

In the bottom of the 10th, Frazier moved automatic runner Rodriguez to third with a groundout, and Pham was intentionally walked. But Isiah Kiner-Falefa popped up to second, and pinch hitter Alexander Canario flied out to left.

The Pirates threatened again in the 11th, when Bart singled to right field, but automatic runner Canario was thrown out at home by Nootbaar. With runners on second and third, Hayes grounded out to short to end the inning.

The 13th inning started with Kiner-Falefa on second base as the automatic runner, soon joined by Canario and Reynolds after they drew back-to-back walks against Chris Roycroft to load the bases. But McCutchen grounded to short, and Winn threw home to force out Kiner-Falefa for the first out. Then Bart worked a full count before swinging at a sinker over the middle to deliver the winning RBI.

“It was just best on best in that situation,” Bart said. “I was probably as loose as I was all day in that situation, just trusting myself in those spots. You’ve got to be confident and be loose and trust your eyes. Luckily, I got a ball in the air. … I was just glad it was far enough to get a run across.”

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