8/18 Games: Five For Big Poison, Bad Day Jose, Two-Way Dale, Sweeps & Streaks, Game Stories

• 1914 - Babe Adams bested NY Giants Rube Marquard to take a 3-1 decision at Forbes Field. Ralph Davis of the Pittsburg Press wrote that “Adams was more than their (the Giants) master and forced them to bow to defeat.” The Babe helped his own cause by banging an inside the park homer, set up when frustrated center fielder Bob Bescher didn’t chase the ball after it got past him and allowed it to roll almost to the wall. 

Babe Adams 1913 (photo Bain News Service/Library of Congress)

• 1931 - Paul Waner went 5-for-6 to lead Pittsburgh to a 14-5 win over the Phils at the Baker Bowl. Pie Traynor added three hits, three runs and two RBI and Eddie Phillips drove in four runs to help back Glenn Spencer’s pitching. 
• 1948 - The Bucs put up a six-spot in the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs to pull away for a 7-4 win at Wrigley Field. Future manager Danny Murtaugh drove in three runs, and rookie pitcher Bob Chesne helped his own cause with two hits, a run and RBI. 
• 1966 - Oooops! 3B Jose Pagan tied the modern NL record for errors in an inning with three in the fourth frame, booting four balls overall‚ as Pittsburgh lost to Mets 9-5 at Shea Stadium. Jose’s bad mitt day led to six unearned runs charged to loser Woodie Fryman. To make things a little worse, Pagan also went 0-for-4 with two whiffs. 

Al Oliver 1971 (Pirates photo pack)

• 1969 - The Pirates showed some late inning two-out lightning at Crosley Field by scoring three times in the ninth to tie the Reds 5-5 and then ringing up seven more runs in the 10th to seal a 12-5 win that was anything but a romp. In the final frame, Matty Alou scored on a Willie Stargell double to make it 5-3, but with two outs it looked over when Manny Sanguillen bounced a ball to SS Woody Woodward. But he botched the play and given new life, Al Oliver took full advantage by chasing home Pops and the Roadrunner with a double. Bruce DelCanton stranded a pair of Reds in their half and the Reds played kick the can again. The Buccos juiced the sacks with two gone, with two runners reaching on Cincy errors, and the floodgates opened. Carl Taylor cleaned the bases with a double, a knock put Pirates at the corners and Al Oliver’s double followed by Gene Alley’s homer added up to a seven spot. Alley had four hits during the contest while Alou and Roberto Clemente each chipped in with three. 
• 1974 - The Bucs completed a three game sweep of the Dodgers at TRS, winning 10-4 behind the big bats of Bob Robertson and Richie Zisk. The pair combined to go 7-for-10 with five runs and five RBI, each collecting a homer and banging out three doubles together. Rennie Stennett and Manny Sanguillen went 6-for-9 at the top of the order and scored three runs as Larry Demery cruised to the win with help from Dave Giusti. The game concluded an 11-for-13 streak; after a pair of losses, the Bucs then won 14-of-17 on their way to a division title. 
• 1976 - Bucco bats were smokin’ against the Giants John “The Count” Montefusco and Mike Caldwell as Pittsburgh ran away with a rain shortened 12-1 win over San Francisco at Candlestick Park. Every player in the lineup had a hit, and four different Pirates either scored or drove in two or more runs. Richie Zisk led the way with a 4-for-4 day; five of his teammates had a pair of knocks. Jim Rooker rolled to victory, giving up four hits in six innings before the rain fell.

Dale Sveum (photo via Sports Memorabilia)

• 1999 - Dale Sveum became the second Pirate (Bobby Bonilla was first) to homer from both sides of the plate during a game in a 12-6 win over the Reds at TRS. Also going deep for the Bucs were Brian Giles, Ed Sprague and Al Martin. 
• 2007 - The 2-3-4-5 hitters for the Bucs (Freddy Sanchez, Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Adam LaRoche) combined to go 10-for-17 with a homer, four doubles, three walks, six RBI and eight runs scored to lead Pittsburgh to an 11-6 romp over the Philadelphia Phillies at PNC Park. 
• 2015 - The Bucs won a game they tried hard to give away by a 9-8 count over Arizona at PNC Park. The Bucs were cruising along in the eighth with an 8-3 lead, built by a Pedro Alvarez homer and timely hitting, but a couple of walks let the D-Backs back in with three runs in that inning and then two errors in the ninth led to a pair of unearned runs (also ruining Mark Melancon’s 35 game streak of converted save opps) to tie the game. But the bullpen regained its mojo and behind scoreless three-inning stints turned in by Arquimedes Caminero and Joe Blanton ground out the win. With two out in the 15th, Fran Cervelli singled and scored on Pedro Florimon’s triple off the Clemente Wall. Florimon was hitting under .100 coming into that at bat and had failed in a bunt try his last at-bat to become an unlikely hero. Blanton got the win; Cervy had four hits during the long (five hour plus) contest - and caught the next night.