July 15 - Good Games and Birthday Boys...

Good Games and Birthday Boys...

• 1893 - Jake Stenzel banged a HR and a triple‚ both with the bases loaded‚ to go with three other hits as Pittsburgh crushed the Washington Senators 19-0 at Exposition Park. 
• 1905 - In a showdown DH between the first place NY Giants and the second place Bucs at the Polo Grounds, Pittsburgh overcame a 6-0 deficit against Iron Joe McGinnity to take a 7-6 lead in the seventh, but lost on a ninth inning homer 8-7 as Christy Mathewson shut them down over the last 2-2/3 innings. The Pirates took the nitecap, 3-0, behind Deacon Phillippe's four-hitter. Honus Wagner clinched the victory with a two-run homer that hit the el tracks in the eighth inning. The Giants eventually won the pennant and swept the Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series. 
• 1908 - The Pirates tied the Boston Doves with a run in the ninth thanks to a George Gibson triple and won in the 10th, 3-2, when Fred Clarke was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for a walk off beaning. Sam Leever went the distance for the victory at Exposition Park. 
• 1932 - The Pirates got plenty of pitching in sweeping a DH from the Boston Braves at Forbes Field by 1-0 and 2-1 scores. Ray Kremer won the opener with a three hitter as LF Dave Barbee doubled home Arky Vaughan in the fourth with the game's only run. In the nitecap, Heinie Meine tossed a six hitter and drove in a run, winning in the ninth when Vaughan singled home Adam Comorosky. 
• 1932 - In the second game of a doubleheader, Satchel Paige tossed his second no-hitter of the year at Greenlee Field as the Pittsburgh Crawfords defeated the New York Black Yankees, 6-0. Three Hall of Famers took the field with Paige: Oscar Charleston at first base, Judy Johnson at third, and Josh Gibson in left field as Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, who pitched in the first game, was behind the plate for Paige's no-no. 
• 1934 - Waite Hoyt tossed a one-hitter against Boston, surrendering a single to Tommy Thompson in a 5-0 win in the opener of a DH at Braves Field. Ed Brandt returned the favor in the nitecap, limiting the Bucs to three hits in a 4-0 Brave victory. 
• 1935 - 1B Donn Clendenon was born in Neosho, Missouri. He spent eight years (1961-68) as a Pirate with a line of .280/106/488. Clendenon hit .302 as a rookie in 1962 (he didn’t play enough in ‘61 to qualify) and was a distant runner up to Chicago’s Ken Hubbs in the RoY voting. He spent a couple of off-seasons (1962-64) as an Allegheny County detective and eventually earned a law degree from Duquesne in 1978 that carried him through his post-baseball career. 
• 1945 - The Pirates bombed the visiting Brooklyn Dodgers in a Forbes Field DH‚ slamming them 9-1 and 15-3. Frank Gustine drove home three runs in the opener while Bob Elliott hit for the cycle and Pete Coscarart scored five times in the nitecap as part of a 19 hit onslaught. 
• 1947 - Enrique Romo was born in Santa Rosalia, Mexico. The righty pitched for the Pirates for four season (1979-82), going 25-16-26/3.56. Romo appeared in 84 games for the World Series champs in ‘79 and was an integral part of the Buc bullpen his first two years, but went noticeably downhill in his last two, which marked the end of his MLB career. 
• 1971 - The Pirates beat the Padres 4-3 at TRS by never saying die. Pittsburgh rallied to tie the game in the bottoms of the ninth‚ 13th‚ and 16th innings before winning it on a Roberto Clemente HR in the 17th. San Diego’s Danny Coombs was hit with a double whammy, credited with a blown save in the 16th and then the loss in the 17th. 
• 2012 - Andrew McCutchen homered in his fourth straight game and collected three hits, but it was in vain as the Bucs fell to Milwaukee 4-1 at Miller Field.