Wednesday, September 7, 2016

9/7 TRS/PNC Era: Littlefield Fired, Losing Record Set, Jeff's Immaculate Inning, Thompson's #30, 19 Hits, 7 Boots, Walk-Off, HBD Gorkys

  • 1974 - The Pirates overcame a 4-0 deficit with a five run seventh against Montreal at TRS, with seven straight Bucs reaching base. The Expos came back to take the contest into extra innings against Dave Guisti, but Dave Parker’s 12th inning two out, walk-off single plated Richie Hebner for a 6-5 Bucco win. Ramon Hernandez worked the last two frames for the win.
  • 1982 - Jason Thompson hit his 30th home run of the season off Mike Scott in a 9-5 win over the Mets‚ becoming just the eighth player in history to hit 30 home runs during a season in each league. (He hit 31 home runs for the Detroit Tigers in 1977.) Richie Hebner and Mike Easler also went long at TRS.
Jason Thompson 1982 Donruss
  • 1987 - Closer Jeff Robinson tossed an immaculate inning, the first in Bucco history, when he K’ed Cubs Leon Durham, Andre Dawson and Rafael Palmeiro on nine pitches in the eighth. It was the first time since Bruce Sutter in 1977 that an immaculate inning was pitched. Of Robinson’s nine strikes, six were swinging, two called, and one fouled. He worked the ninth without any more punchouts to earn a save for Brian Fisher in a 3-2 win at Wrigley Field. It was his first save as a Pirate; he joined the team August 21st as part of the Rick Reuschel trade with the Giants. The Bucco runs came in on a Terry Harper homer, his first as a Pirate, and Bobby Bonilla’s eighth inning, two-out, two-run double.
  • 1987 - OF Gorkys Hernandez was born in Giiria, Venezuela. He was blessed with good wheels and a great glove, but his bat limited him to a couple of cups of coffee in Pittsburgh in 2012 and 2015, playing for three other organizations in between.
  • 2007 - GM Dave Littlefield was fired. Brian Graham, the director of player development for the Pirates, served as interim general manager until new Pirates GM Neal Huntington took over three weeks later.
Dave Littlefield (photo via MLB.com)
  • 2009 - The Pittsburgh Pirates set a new North American standard for consecutive losing seasons by a major sports franchise with their 4-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs (Daniel McCutchen took the L), extending their sub-.500 record to 17 years in a row. The Pirates had shared the record of 16 consecutive losing seasons with the 1933-48 Philadelphia Phillies.
  • 2012 - The Pirates committed seven errors, one less than the franchise mark set in 1939, in front of 32,699 dismayed fans at PNC Park and lost to the Cubs 12-2.
  • 2014 - Pirate bats ran wild over the Cubs at Wrigley Field as the Bucs ran away with a 10-4 decision. Their 19 hits were the most in a game since 2012. Every starter, including the pitcher, had a hit; seven players had multiple hits. Jordy Mercer & Andrew McCutchen banged back-to-back homers while Neil Walker and Gerrit Cole also went long. Cole lasted six innings, plenty long enough to pick up the win. It gave the Pirates a three game sweep of Chi-Town, the first time Pittsburgh swept a series at Wrigley Field since 2000.

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