- 1913 - The Pirates banged out eight straight hits plus a sacrifice fly to score seven times in the sixth inning and rallied past the St. Louis Cards‚ 8-5. Babe Adams went the distance for the win at Robison Field. Honus Wagner & Solly Hofman led the attack with three knocks apiece, and the victory moved Pittsburgh into a short-lived spot on top of the standings.
- 1919 - SS Stan Rojek was born in North Tonawanda, NY. He played for the Pirates from 1948-51, starting the first two years and hitting .266 during his Pittsburgh years. The Bucs got him from Brooklyn, where he was a back-up infielder behind Pee Wee Reese.
- 1921 - Moses “Chief” Yellowhorse won his first MLB game, and the first ever by a full-blooded Native American (he was Pawnee) by working 3-1/3 innings in Pittsburgh’s 8-7 win over the Reds at Forbes Field in the season’s home lidlifter. Rabbit Maranville led the attack with three hits, including a triple, two runs scored and three RBI.
- 1927 - In their home opener at Forbes Field, Pirates ace Ray Kremer did it all, pitching a complete game four-hitter while blasting a two-run home run off Reds starter Eppa Rixey to lead the Bucs to a 3-2 victory in front of 33,439 fans.
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| Ray Kremer 1925 - The Sporting News Archives |
- 1943 - Rip Sewell ruined the Cubs home opener at Wrigley Field as he tossed a three hit, 6-0 shutout. Sewell had their number; he took five more W from them during the campaign. There were four games played on this date around the league and all ended in shutouts, a MLB record.
- 1964 - The Bucs beat the Cubs 8-5 at Wrigley. Every run scored was the result of a homer, setting a MLB standard, and nine different players went long, tying a record. Roberto Clemente, Ducky Schofield, Jim Pagliaroni and Gene Freese (who hit a three run bomb in the ninth to win it) went yard for Pittsburgh; the Cubs hit five solo shots.
- 1971 - Pops hit three long balls for the second time in eleven days to lead Pittsburgh to a 10-2 win over the Braves. It was the fourth time he had three homers in a game, tying him with Ralph Kiner for the team record. Captain Willie collected five RBI and scored three times at TRS. Dock Ellis tossed a five hitter to keep the Bravo bats at bay.
- 1977 - RHP Kip Wells was born in Houston. The righty came to Pittsburgh in the 2001 off season as part of the Todd Ritchie deal with the White Sox and tossed for five Bucco campaigns (2002-06), winning 36 times. The Texan started off well, with ERA of 3.58 and 3.28 in 2002-03, but faded and was sent to the Rangers for Jesse Chavez.
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| Kip Wells 2004 Donruss series |
- 1981 - Ronny Paulino was born in Santo Domingo. He was thought be be the Bucco catcher of the future and started behind the dish in 2006-07. That was enough time to prove he wasn’t the answer, and after the 2008 season he was dealt to the Phils for Jason Jaramillo. Paulino spent four years as a Pirate and hit .278.
- 1989 - In a deal of hopefuls, the Pirates traded former first round pick OF/1B Mark Merchant along with pitchers Mike Dunne & Mike Walker to the Seattle Mariners for SS Rey Quinones and UT Bill Wilkinson. The change of scenery didn’t help and all five players quickly faded from the MLB landscape.
- 1991 - The Pirates became the first MLB team to ever come back from a five run deficit in the bottom half of an extra inning to win a game. After the Cubs scored five runs‚ thanks mostly to a grand slam by Andre Dawson‚ the Pirates plated six times in the 11th inning at TRS to claim a 13-12 victory, with Don Slaught's double the game winner. Nine Bucs batted in that frame, collecting two doubles, three singles, three walks and a sac fly as they small-balled their way to a big inning. Bob Patterson was charged with giving up three runs in an inning of work, but was credited with the win. The loss was pinned on former Pirate Mike Bielecki.
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| Bob Patterson 1992 Fleer Ultra series |
- 1992 - The Bucs scored five times in the first inning and held on to beat the Expos 8-7 at Olympic Stadium. Andy Van Slyke put the Bucs ahead in the first with a two-run triple and finished the game with three RBI. Barry Bonds went deep in the third inning for his seventh homer of the year to make it 6-2 Pittsburgh. Vicente Palacios picked up the win in relief with two scoreless frames while Roger Mason earned the save.
- 2014 - The Bucs blew an early lead, but an Andrew McCutchen homer in the eighth tied it and Neil Walker’s two-out RBI bloop to right was the game winner as the Pirates outlasted Cincinnati 6-5 at PNC Park. Jared Hughes stranded a pair of Reds in the ninth to earn the win. Ike Davis hit his second grand slam of the year; both were against the Reds, one as a Buc and one as a Met.
Kip Wells was a fine young pitcher once upon a time, a former first round draft choice of the Chicago White Sox if memory serves. He was pretty effective for the Pirates for a couple of seasons but was done in by a blood circulation problem in his pitching shoulder. A real shame, because he definitely had some ability. He could also hit a little---and definitely better than most starting pitchers the Pirates have had since he left town---with a career average just under .200 and 4 home runs. He gave it the ol' college try and probably hung around too long chasing his dream, but it bears mentioning that even in 2015 he is still just 38 years old. So he was around for awhile.
ReplyDeleteRight on, Will. He was young - mid twenties, I believe - when the Bucs got him, and he put up a couple of nice seasons in 2002-03; good ERA, near 200 IP. Pity pitchers are such fragile critters.
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