Joey Bart’s career reboot with the Pittsburgh Pirates now includes his first career grand slam, and it came at the expense of his original team, the Giants.
Bart belted a 434-foot, two-out bomb in the fourth inning to put the host Pirates ahead 5-1 in the final game of their three-game series.
Upon the arrival of Mason Belt’s four-seam fastball, Belt returned it with a 109.7-mph exit velocity and crouched low in the batter’s box to admire its flight path over center field. It sailed well beyond outfielder Luis Matos, who had Andrew McCutcheon’s first-inning home run tumble out of his glove and over the wall to put the Giants in a 1-0 hole against Pirates rookie phenom Paul Skenes.
Bart has four home runs this season, including one in his Pirates’ debut April 6.
He raised his batting average to .271 when he roped a two-out double to right field in the bottom of the sixth. He is on a six-game hitting streak, and he enterted this game hitting .292 in eight games this month.
Drafted No. 2 overall by the Giants in 2018, Belt got dealt to the Pirates on April 2. All 11 home runs he hit with the Giants came in 2023. He had none in 87 at-bats last season. Overall, he carried a .219 average in 457 at-bats and 162 games with the Giants, from 2020-23.