CLEVELAND –– When Cincinnati Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart ran onto the field in the bottom of the ninth inning with Wade Miley, he was thinking about how quickly his heart was racing.
“My heart rate – if I had a Fitbit on – was probably 180 beats per minute there from the warmup pitches on,” Barnhart said.
During the bottom of the ninth, Barnhart called six cutters and two changeups, which are Miley’s best two pitches. After Cleveland right fielder Jordan Luplow hit a ground ball to shortstop Kyle Farmer on a changeup with two outs, Barnhart was the first player to run to the mound to hug Miley and celebrate the no-hitter.
It was a milestone for Miley, and it was a milestone for Barnhart.
“I’ve been pretty lucky to do some cool things, personally in this game,” Barnhart said. “Won a couple of Gold Gloves. But this is far and away, far and away, the coolest thing that I’ve ever done in my career.”
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During his eight-year career, Barnhart has played 652 MLB games, all of them with the Reds.
Miley’s no-hitter on Friday against Cleveland stands out to Barnhart. Just like Miley, Barnhart’s performance in Friday’s 3-0 win over Cleveland was another sign of his season-long success as a hitter and as a catcher.
“He has worked personally at both areas as hard as anyone they would ever see,” manager David Bell said. “I also think he’s driven by our team’s success. He really wants to win, bad, and he’s doing everything he can to make that happen. He’s just worked really, really hard to be the player that he is right now.”
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In 24 games this season, Barnhart has a .296 batting average, a .874 OPS and 11 RBI. He has only had three other comparable stretches in his career, in the middle of the season in 2019, 2017 and 2016.
In his eight-year career, Barnhart has never started a season hitting as well as he has in 2021.
“I do think it’s been an evolution for (Barnhart),” Bell said. “He has been playing for a long time now. He’s a veteran player. He’s had a great career, a lot of success. I feel like offensively and defensively, he just keeps getting better.”
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Behind the plate, the two-time Gold Glove Award winner’s production has stayed the same. On Wednesday’s win over the Chicago White Sox, Barnhart threw out a runner at second base in the top of the 10th inning and played a big part in keeping the game scoreless.
Then on Friday, Barnhart caught the first no-hitter of his career.
Before Miley’s no-hitter, Barnhart forgot his “catchers card” in his locker. He usually keeps that on him during the game to remember scouting reports on the opposing team. Since Barnhart forgot it on Friday, he called the game based on what he remembered.
“They were just really locked in with one another,” pitching coach Derek Johnson said. “(Miley) does some things around the inning and even during his inning that kind of gives suggestions on what he wants to do next. That usually is more in the dugout, in between innings, like, ‘Hey, this is kind of what I’m thinking.’ I thought they were really on the same page. I thought it was fairly easy for (Barnhart) to stay with him.”
Before the game on Friday, instead of a traditional pregame meeting with Johnson, Barnhart had a brief conversation with Miley and Johnson to create a game plan.
All of Barnhart’s calls worked out for Miley.
“Tucker Barnhart, I can't say enough about what he's done for me,” Miley said.
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