Weekly Report: 4-3 Mark, Skenes Only All-Star, Brax Wins A Pair, Bullpen Moves, Cutch - Minor League Deal w/Atlanta

Another split week..

Pirates Stuff:

• Paul Skenes, who was having a down year by his standards (6-8/3.62), was named to the NL All Star team for the third time. Teammates Bryan Reynolds (.284/12/55), Brandon Lowe (.242/20/60) and Braxton Ashcraft (9-3/3.24) ended up on the outside looking in.
• LHP Evan Sisk was placed on the 15-day IL (retro to July 1) with elbow inflammation. Recently reacquired righty Hunter Stratton got the call to take his roster spot. Sisk had been a bright spot; he was 1-0/2.23 in 32 outings so far for the Pirates; his absence and that of Wilber Dotel put a big hole in the inning-eater part of the pen.
• Bullpen deja vu: the Bucs recalled RHP Cam Sanders from Indy and optioned RHP Brandan Bidois back to AAA.
• 1B Spencer Horwitz is rehabbing in Florida with CF Oneil Cruz; no guess yet on when they return, although BC says it will be after the All-Star break but hopefully sometime in July.

Spence: 6-21-2026 photo/Pirates

• Pittsburgh is 23-23 on the road...now if they can only heat up at home.
• The Pirates swiped home on a double steal during the 4th of July matinee. Late-breaking Bryan Reynolds chugged into second, drew the throw and Konnor Griffin beat the relay to the dish. The Bucs last pulled off that ploy in 2014 when Andrew McCutchen touched home as Jared Triolo stole second against the Phils.
• Indy OF Dominic Fletcher exercised his contract opt-out and became a FA; the 28-year-old had played w/Arizona and the White Sox before signing with Pittsburgh during the off season. RHP Yunior Marte, who was signed by the Reds, released in June and claimed by the Bucs after a spending 2025 in Japan, was released to return there. 
• RHP Seth Hernandez and OF Edward Florentino will rep the Bucs at the Futures Game at Citizens Bank Park in Philly on Sunday, July 12th.

Game Stuff:

• Braxton Ashcraft had a rare bad outing, giving up three homers and five runs, but he still went six frames and K'ed 8 Phils. He was down 5-0 after the third, but the Buc bats bailed him out. He left up 8-5 after a well-rounded rally: seven Bucs had RBIs, six different guys scored, and Esmerlyn Valdez homered in his fourth straight game, joined tonight by Jared Triolo. Could the pen hang on for three frames? It was exciting, with Philly making it 8-7 after eight, but Endy Rodriguez banged a three-run shot in the ninth, and the Pirates opened with an 11-7 dub.
• Bubba was holding his own against Christopher Sanchez, down 2-0 after six. But it got away from him in the seventh, the bullphone phone rang, and before you knew it, Tyler Callihan was pitching and it was 8-0. That ended up the final count.
• Paul Skenes continued his recent mix of walks and HRs with sloppy play behind him, working four frames & leaving behind 8-2. The Pirates cut it to 8-6 - Jared Triolo had three RBIs and Hank Davis homered - but it was too little, too late as they dropped a 10-6 decision.

The Magician - June image/SportsNet.Pgh

• The Bucs got a Philly split as Esmerlyn Valdez had three RBI and Nicky G & Endy Rodriguez homered with the pitching in sync to take 6-1 dub. Jared Jones went four frames giving up a run, Carmen Mlodzinski piggybacked with three zippos and the backenders closed it out.
• Mitch Keller got banged for three homers and Isaac Mattson gave up two more bombs as DC set off the fireworks a day early. The final was Washington 9, Pittsburgh, 5. And it wasn't nearly as close as it looked; the Pirates scored four times in the ninth. 
• Braxton Ashcraft was touched for a leadoff homer by the Nats after Pgh. drew first blood on Konner Griffin's steal of home, but the Bucs small-balled their way back to a 5-1 lead in the second behind a barrage of bloops and bleeders. Brax kept it that way until he left in the sixth after ringing up seven Ks. The Pirates added a couple more runs late and cruised to a 7-1 dub.
• B-Rey bopped a homer and the bottom of the order came through early to give Bubba a 4-0 lead going into the third; it was 4-4 after four as Chandler gave up six hits and four walks to get 12 outs. It stayed that way into the eighth as both bullpens actually functioned before the Bucs put up a five spot in the eighth, keyed by Brandow Lowe's three-run shot. The final score ended up 11-5 with Gregory Soto, the Bucs fourth pitcher, earning the win after two innings of one-run work. 

MLB Stuff:

• DH/OF Andrew McCutchen signed a minor league deal with the Braves, so the ride may not be over yet.

Cutch - 2026 Topps

• LHP Anthony Banda, who worked out of the Buc bullpen in 2022 and has been with five other clubs since then, was put on the 15-day IL with a lat strain; he's expected to be out for months, not weeks.
• LHP Jalen Beeks, who came out of the Buc bullpen in 2024, will have flexor tendon surgery and be lost to his current club, the Rangers, for the rest of the year.
• The Orioles traded RHP Kyle Nicolas, a Buc who tossed from 2023-25 in Pgh before being moved to the Reds, to the Nats for a Class A IF.
• 1B Rowdy Tellez was DFA'ed by the Braves.
• RH reliever Geoff Hartlieb was DFA'ed by the A's.There were no takers; they outrighted him after he cleared.
• IF Pablo Reyes was released from his Padres minor-league deal, prob due to an exercised opt-out opion. He was hitting .310 in AAA, so it's possible the guy who started with the Bucs in 2018-19 will find an MLB job; he's already been carried on five big-league rosters.
• RHP Eddie Yean, who the Bucs got from Washington in 2020 as part of the Josh Bell deal and since has bounced around the minors, was called up by his current club, again the Nats. He made his MLB debut against the Bucs on Sunday and K'ed his first batter. 

7/6 Through the 1960s: Skinner Slam, B-2-B-2-B, Sweep, Ump Shows, Game Days, Bob, Mace, Arky, Lloyd, Paul, Pie & Cy All-Stars, HBD Omar, Willie, Jason & Ed

1896 - The Pittsburgh Press described the game, played in the rain at Washington’s Boundary Park, as “...a farce. But it was not without excitement, however, for Umpire Tim Hurst threatened to whip half a dozen players.” Hurst reportedly socked Pirates Jake Stenzel and Pink Hawley in the jaw for the guff they had given him during the game. They accepted their fate like men according to the New York Clipper as "neither player resented the attack." The Pirates not only lost the fights with Mother Nature and Hurst, but also lost to the Sens, 6-2. 

1879 - SS Ed Holly was born in Chicago. Ed had a yo-yo career - he spent eight years in the minors, then two seasons with the National League Cardinals. After that taste, he built up a rep on the farm as a defensive whiz over the next half dozen years and in 1914, at age 34, joined the Pittsburgh Rebels, hitting .246 in 100 games and then batting .262 in a bench role behind Marty Berghammer, who had jumped leagues the following campaign. After that, he did some minor league managing and was a long-time scout. As a recognition of his days in the bushes, Ed was selected as a member of the International League Hall of Fame in 1949.

1901 - New York manager George Davis said he would pull his team off the Polo Grounds rather than allow ump Harry Colgan to call the game, and he got his wish. Colgan avoided the drama by not showing up, and under the threat of a forfeit and fine by the league if the blustering Giants didn’t play the match, the two teams each selected a player (Giants infielder Charlie Buelow and Pirates catcher Jack O'Connor) to ump the contest. Davis might have been better off with Colgan as his club lost 6-2, but at least there weren’t any rhubarbs. There were only two bang-bang plays during the match, and sportsman O’Connor called them both in favor of the Giants. The Pittsburgh Press gloated that “The delusion of manager Davis that the umpires were the cause of the New York’s club failure to take first place away from Pittsburg was dispelled…” Jack Chesbro got the win while Ginger Beaumont led the attack with two hits, including a homer.

Cy Blanton - 1935 Diamond All-Stars

1908 - RHP Cy” Blanton was born in Waurika, Oklahoma. He twirled for Pittsburgh from 1934-39, going 58-51-4/3.28 and earning an All Star spot in 1937 with a dazzling array of breaking pitches. In 1935, his 2.58 ERA was the lowest in MLB, besting Lefty Grove. But his promising career was shortened by a steady stream of elbow injuries and physical woes, aggravated by alcoholism, and he died at the age of 37. Throwing the curve and screwball was the likely cause of his arm issues (some believe his chronically aching arm may have driven him to the bottle), and as SABR’s Gregory Wolf posted, the pitch-until-you-drop ethos of the era didn’t help. “Ranking among the most dubious decisions in big-league history, (Pirates manager Pie) Traynor permitted Blanton, coming off an injury-riddled season, to pitch a nine-inning no-hitter in a pointless exhibition game... just days before the regular season. Blanton subsequently tore ligaments in his elbow in his third start of the season, effectively ruining his career.”

 

1933 - CF Paul Waner and 3B Pie Traynor represented the Bucs in the first-ever All-Star Game held at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, won by the American League, 4-2. Pie delivered a pinch-hit double in the seventh inning off Lefty Grove to become the first Pirate to collect an ASG knock while Big Poison appeared in the final frame of the Classic, playing right field.

1938 - The Bucs sent P Mace Brown, SS Arky Vaughan and CF Lloyd Waner to the All-Star Game at Crosley Field. Brown was the only one to take the field; he worked three innings, giving up a run on five hits with two strikeouts, and was credited with a save in the 4-1 NL win.

1940 - Arky Vaughan, Elbie Fletcher and Maurice Van Robays each homered and combined as a duo for 10 RBI and six runs as the Bucs romped over the Cards 15-8 in the lidlifter of a Sportsman’s Park doubleheader. Bob Klinger got the win with Johnny Lanning mopping up at the finish. Pittsburgh took the second match from St. Louis by a 4-3 count, pushing across a 10th inning run on a Frank Gustine knock for the overtime win. Van Robays had a two-run homer and Mace Brown, who pitched five innings of one hit, shutout relief, earned the victory.

Bob Elliot - 1942 Play Ball

1942 - 3B Bob Elliott was the sole Bucco invited to the All-Star Game at the Polo Grounds. He singled in his only at-bat during a 3-1 loss to the AL’s top guns.

1945 - A doubleheader couldn’t begin any better as Pete Coscarart and Jim Russell smoked back-to-back leadoff homers for the first time in franchise history (it wouldn’t happen again until 1982). But Boston regained its composure and swept the Buccos 13-5 and 14-8 at Braves Field.

1954 - 1B Jason Thompson was born in Hollywood. He played for the Pirates for five years (1981-85) and hit .253 with 93 HR, with a particularly sharp eye that led to a .376 OBP. Thompson was an All-Star in 1982, batting .284/31/101, and spent 11 years with four clubs in MLB before knee injuries ended his playing days. In his early career while with Detroit, Thompson earned the nickname "Roof Top" due to his knack of hitting balls to the top of Tiger Stadium’s right field roof. JT now operates the Jason Thompson Baseball Academy in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

1954 - Willie Randolph was born in Holly Hill, South Carolina. The Pirates selected him in the seventh round of the 1972 draft straight out of high school. He made his major league debut in 1975 at age 21, getting in 30 games and batting .164. He was traded in that off-season with Ken Brett and Dock Ellis to the Yankees for Doc Medich, as the Pirates had the 24-year-old 2B Rennie Stennett blocking him. All Willie did after that deal was play 17 more years, win two World Series rings with the Yankees, appear in six All-Star games, bang out 2,210 hits (.276 lifetime BA, .373 OBP) and gain a rep as a solid glove and great pivot man. After he hung up the spikes, he managed the Mets and coached, mostly for the Yankees, then gigged as an ESPN talking head.

Willie Randolph - 1975 SSPC

1955 - Jerry Lynch, Frank Thomas and Dale Long hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the sixth inning against the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Carl Erskine during a 10-5 loss of a doubleheader lidlifter at Forbes Field. The Bucs didn’t homer in the nitecap, but won 4-1 behind Vern Law. The game was knotted in the eighth when the Pirates scored three times, keyed by Gene Freese’s triple and The Deacon’s two-out double. The second game was the first MLB start by Sandy Koufax. He went 4-2/3 innings and fanned four Bucs. The Hall of Fame lefty gave up a run on three hits despite eight walks; the Pirates stranded eight and hit into two DPs.

1960 - Ex-Bucco Bob Purkey had his former mates eating out of his hand for seven innings, spinning a two-hit shutout and hanging on to a 1-0 lead at Crosley Field. But the bane of all knuckleballers, the walk, bit him and the Reds in the eighth. Three free passes with a single mixed in tied the game, and then unlikely speedster Bob Skinner iced the game when his sinking liner to left off reliever Bill Henry eluded OF’er Wally Post’s dive and bounded to the fence for a stand-up, inside-the-park grand slam. Paul Geil worked the eighth inning and into the ninth, giving up a homer and then facing the tying run with two outs. No problem; Danny Murtaugh waved to the bullpen for ElRoy Face and the Baron coaxed a grounder to save the win for Tom Cheney.

1967 - RHP Omar Olivares was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Omar closed out his eight-team, 12-year big league run as a Pirate in 2001 with a 6-9-1/6.55 line, dealt for as a starter but ending up in the pen by early June. The 33-year-old had a good run at the beginning of his career and in the late nineties, but he finished with back-to-back 6+ ERA campaigns.

7/6 From 1970: Fetters-Sanchez, Wet Ward, Freak Sweep, Duel, Dock Rocks, Game Days,AJ & Paul All-Stars, ASG, Bradley Inked, Kevin Goes, HBD Brandon & Mike

1970 - The first three hitters in the Pirates lineup - Matty Alou, Richie Hebner and Roberto Clemente – set the table in fine style by going 10-for-15 with a homer, two doubles, six runs scored and three RBI to lead the way to a 7-5 win at the Phils’ Connie Mack Stadium. Equally strong was the mound work of Bruce Dal Canton and Dave Giusti. They allowed one hit over four scoreless frames to ice the dub after starter and winner Jim Nelson left after a ragged five innings.

1971 - Dock Ellis won his 12th straight game to run his record to 14-3, the most wins ever by a Pirates pitcher before the All-Star break, when he whipped the Cincinnati Reds 5-2 at Three Rivers Stadium. Roberto Clemente had two hits and a walk, scoring twice, Al Oliver added a pair of raps, touching the dish once and chasing home a pair, while Manny Sanguillen added two RBI. Dock went seven innings with Mudcat Grant and Dave Giusti finishing up. Ellis would end the year 19-9/3.06 and was selected as an All Star for the only time in his career. Even that wasn’t a quiet choice; Dock squawked at AS manager Sparky Anderson over who would start the ASG.

1977 - OF and coach Mike Ryan was born in Indiana, PA. Ryan played for parts of five MLB seasons, and he made a stop at AAA Indianapolis in 2007. In 2013, Ryan was named the manager of the West Virginia Power in the Sally League and after a couple of campaigns there, he was chosen as skipper for the Pirates' High-A club, the Bradenton Marauders. Two seasons later in 2016, Mike was named as the boss man for the AA Altoona Curve, replacing Joey Cora who joined the big team’s coaching staff. After the 2019 campaign, Ryan was let go without explanation despite 500 career wins as a minor-league manager for the Pirates, with 221 of those victories and two titles as the Curve skipper. He currently coaches in the Rockies org at AA Hartford.

1980 - The Pirates went an astounding 45 consecutive batters without a hit against the Chicago Cubs at TRS, yet five hours and 31 minutes later, they had taken a 5-4 win in 20 innings, the longest game, inning-wise, ever played at Three Rivers. Between John Milner’s two-out single in the sixth inning and Lee Lacy’s one-out rap in the 19th frame, eight Pirates walked (two were later caught stealing) and another reached on catcher's interference. The Bucs made noise once with runners on second and third with two outs in the 11th. The Cubs also threatened a couple of times after tying the game on a two-out, ninth-inning homer by Cliff Johnson, but ran up 11 consecutive zeros after that blast, unable to dent Kent Tekulve, Rick Rhoden, Grant Jackson and Jim Bibby in overtime after Bert Blyleven had worked the opening 10 frames. Pittsburgh finally cashed in when Ed Ott (who caught all 20 innings) drew a walk from Dennis Lamp, was bunted up and scored on Omar Moreno’s slap to left. The Cubs used 23 players (eight pitchers) and the Pirates burned through 20 in the marathon on the day before All-Star break; Bibby got the win, but his three innings on the bump took him out the running to start in the Midsummer Classic. The Cubs not only lost but their AS weekend break got off to a late start after their charter had to sit on the tarmac for an extra three hours waiting for them after the game. 

Jim Bibby - 1980 Topps

1983 - The American League broke out of a two-decade long slumber and pummeled the Senior Circuit 13-3 at Comiskey Park in the All-Star game, keyed by Fred Lynn’s grand slam, the first ever in AS competition. 3B Bill Madlock, the only Bucco selected, went 0-for-1.

1985 - The Pirates blew a three-run lead at Three Rivers Stadium, allowing the Padres to tie the game in the ninth inning, but came back in their half to take an 8-7 decision. Steve Kemp homered (he lost another hit when Tony Gwynn threw him out from right for the always embarrassing 9-3 putout) and the Bucs added a triple & five doubles during the contest, but Pittsburgh needed three consecutive two-out singles against Craig Lefferts, with the game-winner from Marvell Wynne, to walkoff the victory. Rick Reuschel was credited with the win.

1992 - If you like pitching, this was your kind of game. Zane Smith and Houston’s Jimmy Jones started in a game that ended up 1-0 with Orlando Merced’s sixth-inning homer the only run scored in front of the 15,385 fans at TRS. Smith worked 8-1/3 innings of five-hit ball with Stan Belinda coming on to record the final two outs. Belinda inherited Jeff Bagwell at second base and walked the first hitter he faced, but then served a pair of pop ups to ice the game.

1994 - 2B Brandon Lowe was born in Suffolk, Virginia. Tampa Bay picked him in the third round of the 2015 draft out of the U of Maryland and he debuted for the Rays in 2018, playing with them through 2025. In the offseason, the Bucs grabbed him as part of the three-team deal that sent Mike Burrows to Houston. He filled a Pirates' want for a 2B with some muscle (he had 164 HR and a .484 slugging %) and came with an affordable existing $11.5M contract that included a team option for 2027.

1997 - The Pirate “Freak Show” completed a four-game sweep of St. Louis 6-3 at Busch Stadium to go into the All-Star break with a one-game lead in the NL Central standings after winning seven straight (and on 7/7 yet, for all you numbers players!) Steve Cooke won, backed by Jose Guillen’s first big league homer and four RBI. It was the first multi-RBI game of Jose’s career.

Bob Bradley - 2001 Upper Deck

1999 - The Pirates signed RHP Bobby Bradley (their #1 pick and eighth overall in the draft) to a contract worth an estimated $2.3M, with potential college money offered as a sweetener. The 18-year-old was a Wellington (FL) HS grad who had committed to Florida State. Bradley was a Top 20 Prospect and pitched in the Futures Game on the farm, but two TJ surgeries derailed his career. He was out of baseball by 2006 without having reached the big leagues.

2001 - Pittsburgh put up a five spot in the eighth inning to rally past the Chicago White Sox, 10-6, at Comiskey Park. Jack Wilson had three hits and John Vander Wal added a homer with two stolen bases to pace the attack. Josias Manzanillo was the beneficiary of the offensive outburst; he was charged with a blown save and then credited with the comeback win.

2002 - Houston's Daryle Ward became the first player to put a baseball in the Allegheny on the fly from PNC Park when he homered off Kip Wells during a 10-2 Astro win. The ball traveled an estimated 465-480'. Ward joined the Pirates a little later, playing for Pittsburgh from 2004-05.

2002 - The Pirates traded RHP Mike Fetters to the Arizona Diamondbacks for RHP Duaner Sanchez in a swap of relievers. Sanchez pitched poorly for the Bucs and was released after the 2003 season, but later found success with the Dodgers and Mets until a mid-season car accident in 2006 caused career-wrecking shoulder damage. Fetters was approaching the end of his big league road; he pitched through 2004 for the D-Backs and Twins before retiring at age 39.

2007 - Kevin McClatchy announced that he would step down as CEO after the 2007 MLB season, resulting in the September hiring of his replacement, Frank Coonelly. He told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Dejan Kovacevic that “You start to get burned out a little bit...in all honesty, it’s a natural time for a change. It’s the right thing to do for the team and for me.”

Kevin McClatchy - photo Rich Pilling/Getty

2015 - 17-year vet AJ Burnett, who was named to the All-Star team for the first time in his 17-year career a half hour before game time, and James Shields hooked up in an epic pitching duel at PNC Park that was eventually decided by the bullpens. Both starters went into the eighth inning, leaving a 1-1 match for the relievers to decide. Jared Hughes tossed the final 1-1/3 frames to earn the win after Brandon Mauer gave up a two-out, full-count, pinch hit single to Pedro Alvarez that scored Andrew McCutchen, who had walked and moved up on Jung-Ho Kang’s single. It was El Toro’s second career walkoff hit; the first was back in 2010. As for AJ, he got to join teammates Cutch (his 5th straight nod), Mark Melancon and Gerrit Cole on the National League All-Star roster.

2025 - It was a big day for Paul Skenes - he was named to the All-Star squad again (the first Buc pitcher to receive the honor in his first two seasons) while spinning five shutout frames with 10 K against the M's. He did everything but get a win, as the Bucs were whitewashed v Seattle for the third straight game, losing by a second consecutive 1-0 score. Pittsburgh had 12 hits through the series, with just one being for extra bases. They were coming off a home stand where they had shutout the Cards for three straight games to enter the record books as the first MLB team to sweep a three-game+ set by shutout and then lose the next three-game+ series also by shutout.

7/5 Through the 1960s: Big Bob & W-000-die Gems, Don't Knock The Rock, Ralph Rips, Sweep, Game Days, HBD Goose, David, Ward & Harvey

1877 - P Harvey Cushman was born in Rockland, Maine.The 1902 Pirates were banged up towards the end of the 1902 campaign, and Harvey, a 24-year-old amateur hurler who pitched for the U of Maine and was currently twirling for the local Millvale nine, was added to the Bucco roster in late August to help hold the fort. In a two-week span, he got four outings with a slash of 0-4/7.36, while managing to walk 31 batters in 25-2/3 IP. That ended Harvey’s big league career, and he finished his pro days in 1906, playing with the Braddock Infants of the Class C Ohio-Pennsylvania-Maryland League. He developed roots in the area and died in 1920 in Emsworth.

1884 - OF Ward Miller was born in Mount Carroll, Illinois. He began his eight-year,  five-team career in the show as a 25-year-old with the Pirates in 1909, batting .143 before he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds along with cash for Kid Durbin. Ward did find his eye and finished his MLB days with a .278 BA. After 15 years of pro ball, Miller retired to Dixon, Illinois, to serve in law enforcement. The city placed a monument dedicated to Ward on the lawn of the Lee County Courthouse to commemorate both his law and baseball careers. Bill Johnson of SABR wrote “It was from his football exploits (Miller was a running back for a local amateur club) he earned one of his two lifelong nicknames, Windy. Local reporters, in describing his running speed as an offensive end, tacked the sobriquet on him. His other nickname, Grumpy (or Grump), reputedly came from teammates in Chicago because of his reportedly gruff personality.”

1886 - The Pittsburgh Alleghenys swept a DH from the Baltimore Orioles, 15-1 and 13-2, at Recreation Park. They were led by Fred Carroll, who banged out an American Association/big league record nine hits, later matched by eight players. The Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette wrote “The visitors were at the mercy of the home terrors from the start...” but didn’t give many game details because “...it would be too tedious to describe how each run was made.” They added that the results were to be expected “...where nine very bad ballplayers contest against nine good ones.” Pud Galvin and Cannonball Morris were the winners, with the crowd estimated at 14,000 fans (note: the twin bill required separate admissions for each game; the opener drew 6-7,000, the nightcap 7-8,000). The Allies finished the year in second and the Orioles were last.

1886 - OF David Beals (the name he answered to) Becker was born in El Dorado, Kansas. He began an eight-year MLB run in 1908 with the Pirates as a 22-year-old, batting .154. Despite that start, Becker hung around as a platoon guy (he was a LH hitter) with a rep as a big banger of the deadball era, finishing up his career with a .275 BA and 45 home runs. Beals played 21 years of organized ball before retiring after the 1925 campaign at age 38.

Mr. Swat - 1948 Bowman

1948 - Ralph Kiner hit three HRs 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. Stan Rojek added his first MLB dinger to the pot; he would hit one more during his career. Ralph was shut down in the second game, a 6-4 loss that Cincinnati took by scoring three times in the ninth.

1951 - RHP Rich “Goose” Gossage was born in Colorado Springs. He was only here for one of his 22 MLB years, but the Goose 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. Although some euphony surely helped, Bruce Markusen of The Hardball Times posted “Gossage’s nickname was not a play on his last name. The nickname came from his White Sox roommate, fellow pitcher Tom Bradley. Shortly after he joined the Sox, Bradley took note of Gossage’s unusual delivery and mechanics. Bradley told Gossage that he looked like a goose when he threw the ball. The Chicago media latched on to Bradley’s observation, quickly tagging Gossage ‘Goose.’”

1953 - At Forbes Field, the Phils' Robin Roberts shutout the Pirates 2-0 in 10 innings for his 28th consecutive complete game, outlasting Murry Dickson. The Bucs had 10 hits off Roberts but stranded 11 runners. 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. The Corsairs managed just eight hits in that contest, but collected five of them in the opening frame, along with a couple of walks, to run away and hide by scoring five times. Jim Waugh got the win with help from Lefty LaPalme, who got the closing call after Waugh walked three batters in the ninth.

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. The Braves 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, was called in and was nicked for a run, but closed it out for his only save of the campaign.

Roberto Clemente - 1963 Fleer

1963 - Roberto Clemente, always a bit 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 seats 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. It was the eighth straight loss for NY.

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 combined in the three complete game wins. Donn Clendenon smacked a two-run bomb and Jose Pagan added a pair of RBI. They were his only three whitewashes of the campaign as he finished the year at 12-9/3.81.

1968 - The Bucs rode one big offensive outburst and a super start by Bob Veale to a 4-0 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Pirates plated all their runs in the fifth inning when six of their first seven runners reached base, with the key blow being Bill Mazeroski’s two-run double. Veale gave up just two hits, both infield singles, with a walk and five strikeouts to tame the Cubbies. The Windy City nine never had a runner reach second base against the big Bucco lefty in his complete game win. Bob only won 13 games but through little fault of his own: his ERA in the Year of the Pitcher was 2.05.

7/5 From 1980: Skenes Day, King Kip, 10 In-A-Row, B-Rey, Ben & Wil Sixers, Father/Son, Long Day's Nite, Game Days, Players Meet, HBD Felipe

1982- Pittsburgh's first two hitters of the game, Omar Moreno and Johnny Ray, homered off Houston's Joe Niekro at TRS, but Niekro ended up with the last laugh in a 6-4 Astro win capped by Phil Garner’s three-run blast (Ray and Garner had been swapped for one another at the 1981 deadline). It gave the ‘Stros a six-game winning streak against the Bucs, a string that ended the next day when Larry McWilliams' five-hitter carried the club to a 1-0 victory.

1985 - Not only is the season a marathon, but sometimes even the games are. The Pirates and Padres went through three rain delays and 12 innings of play at TRS in a game that ended at 1:41 AM. After giving up two runs in the top of the 12th, the Bucs scored three times in their half to take a 5-4 win from the Friars. San Diego tied it at twos in the ninth to take it into extras and pulled ahead on Tony Gwynn's two-out, two-run knock. The Pirates came right back; two singles and a walk juiced the sacks and Bill Madlock’s two-bagger knotted the score again. An out later, Johnny Ray’s sac fly put it to bed, giving Rick Reuschel the blown save/win duo. Mad Dog had three hits and three RBI while Marvell Wynne also posted three knocks and crossed the plate twice. 

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 to fall 7-1/2 games off the lead. They preached a team vs an individual approach and then went out and won that night 3-2 as AVS backed his talk when he 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 took the crown by winning 100 games to the Bucs’ 85 victories.

1989 - Barry Bonds homered in Pirates' 6-4 loss to the SF Giants at Three Rivers Stadium, giving him and his dad Bobby the MLB father-and-son home run record with 408. The Bells (Gus & Buddy) and the Berras (Yogi & Dale) formerly shared the record of 407. Gus and Dale both played for the Bucs, so the Pirates had a claim on all three slugging "Killer B" families.

Bonds Boys - 2022 Custom Card Scott Hodges

1991 - LHP Felipe Vazquez (formerly Rivero) was born in San Felipe, Venezuela. The lefty joined the Bucs from the Nats in 2016 as part of the Mark Melancon deal and established himself as a solid setup man. The following year, the Pirates traded closer Tony Watson and Vasquez stepped into his role, featuring a 100 MPH fastball, slider and changeup combo. His career circled the drain when he was arrested for child pornography and sexual assault charges in 2019.

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. Jimmy Anderson went five innings for the win and then Scott Sauerbeck, Jason Christiansen & Mike Williams brought it home.

2004 - Pittsburgh won its 10th straight game over the Florida Marlins at Pro Player Stadium 3-1 as Kip Wells outdueled Josh Beckett. Wells gave up four hits and K’ed eight in a scoreless eight-inning outing and then had to sweat out a shaky Jose Silva save. Abraham Nunez homered in the win. The streak, which was the highlight of an 89-loss season, ended the next day. The Pirates actually played well through July and were just two games under .500 on the 27th, but the dog days of August and September wilted the record of Lloyd McClendon’s charges.

2005 - Kip Wells scattered four hits and punched out a dozen Phils as he went wire-to-wire for a 3-0 victory at PNC Park. The shutout was the second (and last) complete-game whitewash of his 12-year career. Jason Bay had three hits and provided the big blow with a two-run blast in the fifth while Matt Lawton’s double plated the other score to topple Philadelphia.

Kip Wells - 2005 Leaf Century

2015 - The Bucs used a big inning to take a 5-3 win over the Cleveland Indians at PNC Park. The Pirates trailed 3-0 entering the fifth frame before plating five runs off Danny Salazar on a two-run homer from Pedro Alvarez, a run-scoring single from Neil Walker and a two-run double from Andrew McCutchen. The Pittsburgh Kid and Cutch banged their game-tying and game-winning hits with two away. Gerrit Cole earned his league-leading 12th win by tossing eight innings of five-hit ball and striking out five. Cole tied Ken Brett (1974), ElRoy Face (1959) and Rip Sewell (1943) for the second-most dubs prior to the All-Star break in Pirates history behind only Dock Ellis’ 14-win start in 1971. Mark Melancon earned his 27th save by tossing a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

2021 - The Bucs had a big night, beating Atlanta at PNC Park by an 11-1 count. They were led by some unlikely suspects. Chase De Jong won his first MLB game since 2018, escaping a testy 36-pitch first-inning by allowing just a run and then following with four shutout frames. OF Ben Gamel was big with three hits, including two homers, three runs scored and a career-high six runs chased home. John Nogowski, just bought from the Cards and hitting .096, had two hits, a walk, three tallies and his first MLB RBI. The Bucs first six batters had multi- hits. 

2024 - The fans lined up early to catch rookie Paul Skenes in action during the holiday weekend and it was worth the effort. The Pirates hosted their second sellout of the season with 37,037 rooters packing PNC Park and Skenes went seven innings, giving up two runs on four hits with two walks and eight K to run his record to 5-0 as the Buccos rolled over the Mets 14-2. He had all the help he needed from Bryan Reynolds, who hit two homers, including his third career grand slam, and plated six runs while Rowdy Tellez also had a pair, including his own granny (he has four now) to chase home five runs. The team spanked seven dingers as Jack Suwinski, Yaz Grandal and Michael A. Taylor also added bombs to the Bucco swag bag. OptaSTAT went diggin’ deep and discovered that Reynolds and Tellez were the first pair of teammates in MLB history to hit multiple homers including a grand slam in the same game. It was the fifth time the team banged seven long balls in a game (and just the second time in Pgh, with the first in 1947) - the scoreboard ran a crawler in the eighth inning saying the park had run out of post-homer fireworks!

7/4 Through the 1940s: Satch No-no, Duels, Flood, Sweep, Boom, Game Days, Brain-y Move, First Fireworks, HBD Wayne, Jims, Chuck, Mel, Stump & Lou

1882 - The Alleghenys defeated the St Louis Brown Stockings 6-5 in 11 innings at Sportsman's Park, scoring three times in the eighth and tying it in the ninth. It was thought to be the first Fourth of July match played by the American Association clubs that would both later become MLB rivals as the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cards. (S/O DK Pittsburgh Sports). 

1884 - LHP Lou Manske was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Lou had a short MLB career, getting into two games (one start) for the 1906 Pirates, posting a no decision and a 5.63 ERA. He had been purchased in August from Des Moines of the Western League where he had put together consecutive 20-win campaigns. Manske went to the American Association for three seasons afterward and closed out his pro pitching days with St. Joseph of the Western League in 1910.

1888 - The Alleghenys provided all the fireworks as they dropped the original Washington Nationals by a football-like score of 14-0 in front of 2,870 rooters at Recreation Park. Pittsburgh banged out 25 hits to give Ed “Cannonball” Morris, who spun a five-hitter, an easy holiday win. As stated in the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette “It was hardly an exciting game but satisfying just the same.” The second game of the doubleheader was rained out after five frames.

1891 - RF Jacob “Stump” Edington was born in Koleen, Indiana. He got into 15 games as a 21-year-old for the 1912 Pirates, batting .302 as one of seven right fielders who saw playing time, and that was his MLB career. He continued on his baseball journey, playing in the Central League from 1915-1917, the Pacific Coast League from 1919-1921 and the Texas League from 1922-1927. Stump managed Raleigh for one more campaign before retiring at age 36.

Bones Ely - 1896 team photo snip

1899 - The Pirates celebrated the Fourth by sweeping a twin bill from the Cleveland Spiders at Exposition Park by 4-3 and 7-6 scores, both being extra-inning walkoff triumphs. Pittsburgh fell behind 3-0 in the lidlifter before knotting it in the ninth and then winning in the 10th when Bones Ely’s two-out knock scored Ginger Beaumont. Bill Hoffer went the distance for the win. Ely was quite the hero; he scored the tying run and made a great, no-man’s-land grab in the field. The second game was a see-saw affair; the Spiders went ahead by a run in the 13th, but then mishandled a pair of bunts in the Pirates half to gift-wrap a Pittsburgh win. Jesse Tannehill claimed the victory in relief of Tully Sparks. The win set off some early Independence Day revelry - the Commercial Gazette wrote that  “Men and women went fairly crazy, and there was enough noise to waken the dead. Firecrackers boomed and revolvers were fired into the air...”

1902 - The Pittsburgh Press headline read “River Invaded The Park.” During a doubleheader against Brooklyn, “...the Allegheny, which does not seem to know enough to keep its place, sneaked up…” backed up through a drain pipe, resulting in knee-deep water that flooded Exposition Park’s outfield. A special ground rule was created for the day: all outfield hits into the water were singles. Players occasionally caught a ball and dove into the water to splash around, providing “a source of pleasure to the crowd,” with over 20,000 pleased fans in attendance. The Pirates swept the Superbas as Jesse Tannehill tossed a 3-0 two-hitter in the opener and Tommy Leach collected two of his three hits on the day. Jack Chesbro spun a four-hit 4-0 win in the nitecap with Lefty Davis banging out three raps to extend the team’s winning streak to eight games.

1904 - The Bucs and Cubs played a holiday twin bill (they were played as separate day/afternoon affairs, not a traditional doubleheader, and both drew over 12,000 fans) at Expo Park and the Bucs swept, winning the lidlifter 7-2 before taking the nightcap 11-6 in a game that featured six Bucco doubles. Roscoe Miller won the first match, supported by Honus Wagner’s three hits and two-knock days from Fred Clarke, Claude Ritchey and Ed Phelps. Mike Lynch gave up 11 hits but cruised anyway in the late game as every Pirate had multiple hits except for Kitty Bransfield, who only managed one rap. Hans had a big Fourth, collecting six hits, swiping a pair of sacks and handling 18 chances in the field flawlessly. And props to ump Hank O’Day, who called both games solo.

1904 - Pinch runner/OF Mel Ingram was born in Asheville, North Carolina. A multi-sports star at Gonzaga U - he won 15 letters in four sports - he signed with the Pirates in 1929. He was on the roster for one month and got into three games, all as a pinch runner. His lack of playing time wasn’t much of a surprise - he had signed with Pittsburgh as a short-term rental, with the understanding they would release him when the Wallace Bulldogs (an Idaho college) season opened so he could manage their team. He then moved on to coaching HS baseball in Oregon.

David Brain - 1909 American Tobacco

1905 - The Pirates traded shortstop George McBride to the St Louis Cardinals for IF Dave Brain. Brain lasted just the season in Pittsburgh, hitting .257 in 85 games, then was packaged in the trade to get Vic Willis, who became a Bucco mainstay on the hill. McBride played for 14 more seasons in the majors. A good glove guy, he never batted higher than .235, with a lifetime .218 BA.

1906 - There were no Bucco fireworks on this 4th of July as the Cubs took two from the Pirates by 1-0 scores at Exposition Park in front of 20,024 holiday rooters. In the opener, Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown beat Lefty Leifield with both pitchers firing one-hitters. It was the second double one-hitter in history, the first occurring in 1886. Leifield banged the only Buc hit off Brown while holding Chicago hitless until Jimmy Slagle's single in the ninth inning. The Cub came around on a sacrifice‚ error‚ and ground out. In the second game, Carl Lundgren won a duel against Vic Willis when Sheckard plated on player/manager Frank Chance’s knock in the eighth inning. Willis gave up 10 hits but ducked and dodged the raindrops until the end; Lundgren spun a five-hitter. The Pirates had only been shut out twice all season before the twinbill, but it was a very good Chicago team. They won 116 games (tied with 2001 Seattle for the most victories in one campaign) and finished the year with a team ERA of 1.76, although they lost the WS to their cross-town rivals, the White Sox. The Pirates were pretty good, too, but their 93 wins left them eating the Cubbies’ dust.

1909 - Barney Dreyfuss started a Pirates tradition that’s carried on to this day: five days after Forbes Field opened in Oakland, he held a post-game fireworks display. Unlike today’s Zambelli exhibits, this was a separate event from the ballgame; after all, Barney had a new ballyard to pay for, and so he filled the house (and his pockets) twice for the holiday. The show was the first time that pyrotechnics, now a ballyard staple, had been featured in a baseball stadium.

1912 - It was a festive Fourth in Oakland as the Pirates swept the Cincinnati Reds in a Forbes Field twinbill by 11-5 and 3-2 counts. In the opener, Hans Wagner and Dots Miller each had three RBI and winning pitcher Howie Camnitz scored three times with a hit and pair of walks in addition to tossing a complete game seven-hitter for his 11th dub. The Pirates trailed 2-1 in the ninth of the nightcap, but the morning heroes came through again: Wagner legged out an infield single, and Miller walked with one down. After a K put the Reds an out away from a split, pinch hitter Ham Hyatt lined a ball over first base and just inside the line for a walkoff double that gave the Pirates & Claude Hendrix a 3-2 win. The double-dipper was a part of a July homestand that stretched from July 1- 25. 

Dots Miller - 1912 Handcut

1927 - The Pirates swept the World Champion Cardinals 7-2 and 6-4 in a Forbes Field doubleheader. Lee Meadows took the opener behind Johnny Gooch’s bases-loaded triple. The Cards rallied to tie the second game in the top of the eighth, but Clyde Barnhart answered with a two-run double in the bottom half for the win. Carmen Hill went the distance for the win.

1928 - Pirate skipper Chuck Tanner was born in New Castle. He managed the Pirates for nine years (1977–1985, 711-685 record) and won the World Series in 1979. He was also skipper of the White Sox, Athletics and Braves. Tanner was traded for Manny Sanguillen to the Pirates in 1977 by Oakland, only the second manager-for-player trade in history. He returned to the Pirates in 2007 as a special assistant to GM Neal Huntington, a spot he held until he passed away in 2011 at the age of 82. The Rotary Club of Pittsburgh hands out two awards in his name, the annual Chuck Tanner Major & Minor Baseball Managers of the Year, while the Pirates created the Chuck Tanner “We Are Family” Fund. Baseball was his life, saying “The greatest feeling in the world is to win a major-league game. The second greatest feeling is to lose a major-league game.”

1934 - Satchel Paige of the Pittsburgh Crawfords tossed a no-hitter against the Homestead Grays at Greenlee Field on Bedford Avenue with the only runners reaching via an error and a walk. He struck out 17 Grays, establishing the all-time Negro League record and matching what was then the MLB whiff record for a single game in the 4-0 win against Frank Stewart. The Craw’s Oscar Charleston had two hits, including a triple. Josh Gibson was Paige’s catcher, making it the only documented time in Negro league history in which no-hitter battery mates were both members of the Hall of Fame, something which has never occurred in the majors. The no-no was the opening act of a holiday twinbill that drew 12,000 fans to the Hill District yard. The Grays took the nightcap 4-3, with Joe Strong getting the win over Bert Hunter. Ray Brown homered for Homestead.

1947 - RHP Jim Nelson was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Jim had a brief career but his fingerprints are all over the Bucco history books. Per Wikipedia: Nelson was a 31st round pick in the 1965 draft and made a dazzling debut in 1970. He relieved against the San Francisco Giants, struck out Willie Mays, and then got Willie McCovey to bounce into a twin killing. Jim spun three perfect innings with four strikeouts and also slapped a single (he was a good hitter, batting .269). Nelson started his career with a 4-0 record (and the team won his first seven starts), a feat not equaled by a Pirates starting pitcher until Zach Duke in 2005. Nelson also was the last Pittsburgh hurler to win his first three career starts until Gerrit Cole matched the feat in 2013. More trivia: Nelson also was the starting and winning pitcher in the final game played at Forbes Field on June 28th, 1970, a 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. But the next season saw him develop serious control issues and he was shipped to the minors in mid-July. Jim refused to report (he was 2-2/2.34 with the team but had made only 17 appearances) and it cost him as his teammates voted him a half-share of their 1971 World Series money but the FO stiffed him when handing out World Series rings. It was a sort of messy way to end a relationship, especially as he later had rotator cuff surgery and never got back to the majors. His lifetime line was 6-4/3.01 as a Buc from 1970-71. Nelson became a salesman after baseball and used to hand out $5 bills to the homeless in his Sacramento community as Christmas gifts until he passed away at the age of 57.

Jim Nelson - 1972 Topps

1947 - RHP Jim Minshall was born in Covington, Kentucky. A second-round pick in the 1966 draft out of HS, he tossed six games for the 1974-75 Bucs and was 0-1, even though he never gave up an earned run. Jim was a Pirates lifer; he pitched in the Buc system from 1966-76, posting a 59-53-20/3.70 line before closing out his career at AAA Charleston.

1948 - The Pirates took two from the Chicago Cubs by 5-1 and 6-2 scores at Forbes Field to reclaim second place in the National League, 2-1/2 games behind the front-running Boston Braves. Rip Sewell and Kirby Higbe gave up eight hits in the opener but only one run while Elmer Riddle tossed a four-hit complete game victory in the nightcap. Ralph Kiner and Stan Rojek led the way at the dish; each had five hits during the day. Ralph had a homer, a double and three RBI while The Happy Rabbit scored twice. As for the Pirates season, they finished in fourth place, 8-1/2 games behind the Braves, but did end up 83-71 in a competitive campaign.

1948 - OF Wayne Nordhagen was born in Three Rivers Falls, Minnesota. Wayne put up eight years off the bench in MLB, getting into one game as a Bucco in 1982 and doing pretty well, going 2-for-4 with two RBI. Nordhagen was part of a fairly byzantine set of moves. The Blue Jays sent him to Philly for Dick Davis; the Phils quickly swapped him to the Pirates on the same day for Bill Robinson. Then a week or so later, the Bucs shipped him back to the Jays for Davis.