Bart’s homer helps Pirates reach .500 by All-Star break

CHICAGO — A lot has changed for the Pirates in one week. After blowing a ninth-inning lead against the New York Mets on July 7 — which dropped them to five games under .500 — Pittsburgh still had a chance to get back to .500 on the final day before the All-Star break.

Behind Joey Bart‘s three-run go-ahead home run in the fourth inning, the Pirates beat the White Sox, 9-4, on Sunday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field to close out the first half with a 48-48 record. That .500 record is the first time Pittsburgh will be .500 or better entering the All-Star break since 2016 (46-43).

Mitch Keller started for the Bucs on Sunday but really struggled with command. He gave up two runs on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts across three innings. His three innings pitched broke his 49-game streak of starts in which he went at least five innings, tying him with A.J. Burnett (49 from May 8, 2012, to Aug. 10, 2013) for the second-longest such streak in Pirates history.

With Pittsburgh trailing in the top of the fourth inning, Bart had a chance to do damage after Ke’Bryan Hayes singled and Joshua Palacios walked with one out. The 27-year-old catcher got a pitch to hit and drove it a Statcast-projected 416 feet to left-center field.

That home run helped the Pirates win their sixth game in the past seven days. Pittsburgh also added on four more runs in the seventh inning, highlighted by Nick Gonzales’ two-run triple, and got a home run from Bryan Reynolds in the eighth. The team earned its first sweep since its opening series of the season against the Marlins.