Skip to content

VIDEO: Burnett receives hat tip from Votto during final regular-season start

Jared Wickerham / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander A.J. Burnett has certainly earned the respect of his peers during his 17-year career.

During what could have been Burnett's final start in the majors Saturday, Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto made sure to acknowledge Burnett with a tip of his cap prior to his first at-bat.

Prior to Burnett's 430th and final career regular-season start, the Pirates had his two sons throw out the ceremonial first pitch. The emotional night continued after leaving to a standing ovation with two outs in the seventh at PNC Park.

"Obviously, winning the game is the most important thing, and that's where I was at," said Burnett, who allowed three runs on five hits and trailed 3-1 at the time of his exit. "(The fans) changed that instantly the way they reacted. You could ask me a million times what it was like, and I couldn't describe it."

(Videos courtesy: MLB.com)

Votto will certainly miss facing Burnett - the Reds star entered the game hitting .323/.432/.452 against him in 31 at-bats.

"The highlight of my day was competing against A.J. Burnett," Votto said. "Heck yeah, he deserves it. What a fantastic career."

The Pirates announced they'll send Gerrit Cole to the mound to face the Chicago Cubs in the NL wild-card game Wednesday. Should Pittsburgh win, Burnett would have another opportunity to pitch in the postseason.

Burnett's fourth strikeout of the night was the 2,508th of his career, moving him past Christy Mathewson for 31st on the all-time leaderboard. The veteran right-hander finished his regular-season career with a 164-157 record, 3.99 ERA and 8.3 strikeout-per-nine rate across 2731 1/3 innings.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox