Tuesday, July 5, 2016

7/5: HBD Goose, Woodie's Streak, Father & Son Reunion, 10 Straight, Kip's Big Games...

  • 1886 - The Pittsburgh Alleghenys swept a DH from the Baltimore Orioles 15-1 and 13-2 at Recreation Park, led by Fred Carroll, who banged out an American Association record nine hits.
  • 1948 - Ralph Kiner hit three HR with five RBI in the opener of a twinbill split against the Reds at Forbes Field, backing Vic Lombardi’s pitching in the 10-3 win. He was shut down in the second game, a 6-4 loss.
  • 1951 - Happy birthday, Goose. He was only here for for one of his 22 MLB years, but Rich “Goose” Gossage made the most of it, putting together an 11-9-26/1.62 slash for the 1977 Bucs and earning an All-Star spot, working 133 IP and amassing 151 punchouts. The Pirates never made a serious bid to keep him after the season, and he parlayed his Pittsburgh campaign into a six-year, $3.6M contract with George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees.
Goose Gossage (photo Tommy McDonald)
  • 1953 - At Forbes Field, the Phils' Robin Roberts shut out the Pirates 2-0 in ten innings for his 28th consecutive complete game, outlasting Murry Dickson. It was also his 13th straight win over Pittsburgh going back to August 26th‚ 1950 (the string would reach 15). The Bucs did win the nitecap of the DH by a 7-4 tally.
  • 1960 - The Bucs and Milwaukee Braves played a dramatic, see-saw game at County Stadium with the Pirates hanging on for a 5-4, 10 inning win. Down 2-0 in the top of the ninth, Rocky Nelson and Don Hoak homered to give the Bucs a 3-2 lead. Del Crandall’s two-out, bases loaded single off Paul Giel tied the game, with Bob Skinner cutting down the winning run at the plate to extend the match. With two gone in the 10th, an infield knock by Skinner was followed by Nelson’s second homer to make it 5-3. Bob Friend, a starter by trade, got the call to relieve Giel, who tossed a pair of wild pitches, one on a K of Henry Aaron. He gave up a run, but closed it out.
  • 1963 - Roberto Clemente, always touchy about guys throwing at him, clobbered a pitch that Met’s pitcher Tracy Stallard tossed under his chin with two strikes and two outs in the eighth inning, lining it into the upper deck to break a 1-1 tie and give the Bucs a 3-1 win at the Polo Grounds. Stallard told Maury Allen of the New York Post that "'I was trying to waste a pitch. I figured maybe I could get him to swing again at a pitch around his head.” He did. Don Cardwell got the win, with Alvin McBean picking up the save.
  • 1966 - Woodie Fryman tossed his third straight shutout, a 6-0 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The rookie lefty surrendered just seven hits in the three complete game wins. Donn Clendenon smacked a two run bomb and Jose Pagan added a pair of RBI.
Woodie Fryman 1966 (promotional photo)
  • 1982 - Pittsburgh's first two hitters of the game, Omar Moreno and Johnny Ray‚ homered off Houston's Joe Niekro at TRS, the second time in Pirate history that feat had been done. Niekro ended up with the last laugh, though, in a 6-4 Astro win.
  • 1988 - Andy Van Slyke, Sid Bream, Jim Gott, Spanky LaValliere and Bobby Bonilla held a players-only meeting before playing San Diego at Jack Murphy Stadium after losing three in a row and falling 7-½ games off the lead. They preached doing it as a team instead of players trying to do it all themselves, and won that night 3-2 as AVS homered and stole a base. The big play came with an out in the ninth when C Junior Ortiz withstood a runaway John Kruk collision at home to keep the tying run from scoring. Bob Walk got the win, with Barry Jones earning the save. The meeting didn’t help long term; the Mets waltzed away with the crown by winning 100 games to the Bucs’ 85 victories.
  • 1989 - Barry Bonds homered in Pittsburgh's 6-4 loss to the Giants at TRS‚ giving him and father Bobby the MLB father-and-son home run record with 408. The Bells (Gus and Buddy) and the Berras (Yogi and Dale) had shared the record of 407.
  • 2000 - Wil Cordero drove in six runs with a pair of long balls to lead the Bucs to a 9-6 win against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Aramis Ramirez also added a homer against Chicago. Jimmy Anderson went five innings for the win.
Wil Cordero 2000 Upper Deck MVP
  • 2004 - Pittsburgh won its tenth straight game 3-1 over the Marlins at Pro Player Stadium as Kip Wells outdueled Josh Beckett. Wells gave up four hits and K’ed eight in a scoreless eighth inning outing, and then had to sweat out a shaky Jose Silva save. Abraham Nunez homered in the win. The streak ended the next day at Florida, and was the highlight of an 89-loss season.
  • 2005 - Kip Wells scattered four hits and punched out a dozen Phils in a 3-0 complete game victory at PNC Park. Jason Bay provided the big blow with a two run blast in the fifth, with Matt Lawton’s double plating the other score.
  • 2007 - Adam LaRoche pounded a pair of homers and a double, driving in three runs and scoring three more as the Bucs dropped the Brewers 6-3 at PNC Park. Xavier Nady added three hits, including a homer of his own. Tom Gorzelanny got the win and Matt Capps the save.

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