7/30 Angry Barney

When Darwin Barney hit his three-run home run in the fourth, it looked like he was yelling something at the Pirates dugout as he broke into his trot. But he wasn’t upset with the Pirates; he was mad at himself.

“I was upset at myself for not turning the double play,” Barney said of a play in the Pirates fourth. “I was angry the whole at-bat at myself. That’s all I could think about because of the bobble. That’s a crucial turn there and I didn’t do it. When I hit that home run, I was still almost yelling at myself, I was so pumped up that I could come through like that. I made sure to say a couple things to a couple of [the Pirates] so they knew I was mad at myself for botching that double play. I had nothing to gesture toward you guys. I didn’t want them to think I was trying to show anybody up.”

The bobble came when the Pirates had the bases loaded and one out in the fourth. Michael McKenry hit a grounder to third baseman Joe Mather who threw to Barney, but he couldn’t turn the double play. A run scored on the fielder’s choice, which gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead. That was short-lived as the Cubs romped, 14-4.

– Carrie Muskat