Tuesday, August 9, 2016

8/9 TRS-PNC Era: Pops Pops One; Candy Man Can, ESPN Rally & More...

  • 1970 - Willie Stargell became the first player to hit a homer into the RF upper deck at the freshly minted TRS, drilling a shot off the Mets Ron Taylor. Pops would reach the top tier four times, with Bob Robertson and Bobby Bonilla also joining him from the Pirates. The Bucs won 8-3, with Luke Walker getting the victory. Willie and Manny Sanguillen, with a pair of doubles, each had two hits as the Pirates sent Nolan Ryan to defeat.
  • 1976 - The 500th game in Three Rivers Stadium history turned out to be one of its more memorable contests as John Candelaria threw the first no-hitter by a Pirates' pitcher in Pittsburgh, a 2-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Candy Man gave up a walk with a couple of errors committed behind him, and survived his only jam, a bases-loaded pickle in the third. It was a fitting showcase performance; the Pirate promotion for the game was “Candy Nite” with all the fans getting a candy bar for the ABC National Game of the Week.
John Candelaria 2014 Leaf Memories
  • 1986 - The Pirates pounded out six doubles, and led by Johnny Ray, they outpunched the St. Louis Cards 8-5 at Busch Stadium. Ray had three hits, including a homer and double, scored twice and drove in three runs. Bobby Bonilla, Mike Diaz and Ray touched the plate six times, and Barry Bonds, Tony Pena and Ray chased seven runs home to give Bob Walk the win. The victory was hidden vigorish at its best - the Pirates hadn’t won at Busch Stadium since September 14th, 1984 while the Cardinals had an 11 game home winning streak on the line.
  • 2002 - The Bucs, behind Aramis Ramirez’s homer and four RBI, defeated the Giants 4-3 at Pacific Bell Park. Kip Wells defeated former Bucco Jason Schmidt for the win, but not before giving up Barry Bonds’ 600th home run. Barry’s first 176 dingers had come as a Pirate.
  • 2012 - It was a big day for a couple of Bucco batters as Pittsburgh ran away from San Diego with an 11-5 victory at PNC Park. Light-hitting Clint Barmes drilled a grand slam and Neil Walker was unstoppable at the plate, going 5-for-5 with a walk and falling a triple shy of the cycle. Erik Bedard got the W, even though he lasted but five frames (four relievers put up zeroes behind him), and ex-Buc Ross Ohlendorf took the loss.
Clint Barmes 2012 Topps
  • 2013 - It wasn’t a very good day for the Bucs, who gave up nine runs in the first two innings on the way to a 10-1 drubbing at the hands of the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. But it did plump up the resume of utilityman Josh Harrison, who came in the eighth with two out and two runners aboard to get the last out, coaxing a fly out from Corey Dickerson. Harrison related to Bill Brink of the Post-Gazette that Clint Hurdle told him “All right, I never thought I would have to have this talk with you here on the mound. Go get them."
  • 2015 - In front of a sellout crowd and a national ESPN “Sunday Night Baseball” audience, the Bucs roared back from a 5-1 deficit by scoring nine times in the seventh inning to earn a 13-6 victory over the NL-West leading LA Dodgers. Andrew McCutchen homered and had four RBI; Jung-Ho Kang and Fran Cervelli (who had three hits) also went long. Arquimedes Caminero got the win in relief of Charlie Morton. The Bucs swept the three-game set against LA for the first time since 2000.

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