Hunter Barco Takes One for the Team

Photo provided by Matt Lynch

PITTSBURGH — Hunter Barco didn’t arrive until about 25 minutes before first pitch.

No, not at PNC Park. His flight didn’t land in Pittsburgh until around 6:15 p.m. ET after getting recalled by the Pirates prior to their game against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on Tuesday night.

Barco was with Triple-A Indianapolis in Memphis for a series against the Redbirds when he got word he was coming back up to the Pirates. Due to a storm in the area, Barco was delayed at the Atlanta airport for five or six hours.

While he was waiting at the gate, Barco was preparing as best he could.

“It’s getting ready the entire flight here. It’s sitting at the airport going over at bats and hitters in my head,” Barco explained. “I haven’t done anything like that before, but it’s whatever you got to do.”

For Barco, it was a fine line between wanting to stay loose but not wanting to be worn out by the time he finally landed.

“I didn’t want to be moving around all day and be worn out by the time I got here,” he said. “I tried to chill a little bit. Whenever I wanted to, I got up and moved around.”

Once Barco eventually got to the stadium, he didn’t have much time to relax or even start to get ready before the bullpen phone rang calling for his services.

Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft was only able to go 4.1 innings in an eventual 11-7 loss before Barco was called in from the ‘pen. It wasn’t a great performance, but Barco grinded through his outing and finished the game.

“For him to land at 6:15 and do what he did tonight saved the bullpen a lot,” manager said following the loss. “At the beginning, [he] kept it within reach…I thought he did a really great job under tough circumstances.”