8/30 Games: 17 For Roy, Pie 5-for-5, Robertson Cycle, Double Trouble, Rallies, Gems, Game Stories

• 1921 - Dave Robertson connected for the cycle to lead the Bucs to an 8-2 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. He scored twice and drove in three runs. George Cutshaw and Clyde Barnhart had three knocks each as Whitey Glazner cruised to victory, scattering seven hits for the complete game win. 
• 1929 - Pie Traynor went 5-for-5 to lead a 21-hit attack in an easy 15-0 win over Chicago at Forbes Field. Heinie Meine tossed a three-hitter as Pittsburgh dominated. It was the Pirates' fourth win over the Cubs in three days, with the Windy City snapping their losing streak with a 7-6 win the following day. 

The Waner boys 1935 (photo Leslie Jones/Boston Public Library)

• 1930 - The Pirates swept a twinbill from Cincinnati, 5-0 and 3-2, to win their 12th game in 14 outings. The Waner brothers, Paul and Lloyd, scored all five runs in the opener with George Grantham driving them in three times. Spades Wood tossed a six-hitter for the win. Grantham was big in the second game too, with three hits, two runs and an RBI as Larry French outlasted the Reds’ Larry Benton. 
• 1951 - The Pirates rallied from an 8-1 deficit to take a 10-9 victory from the Giants at the Polo Grounds. Frank Thomas hit his first MLB homer and Ralph Kiner won it with a long ball in the ninth. Gus Bell and Pete Castiglione also homered for the Bucs. Pittsburgh climbed back to take the lead in the eighth only to have the Giants tie it, but the G-Men were trumped by Kiner in the end. Murry Dickson blew the save but ultimately got the win, one of 20 he earned during the campaign. 
• 1959 - ElRoy Face notched his 17th straight victory of the year, earning a 10 inning win against Philadelphia, 7-6, at Forbes Field after Dick Stuart’s two-run double in overtime. The Bucs rallied from a five-run ninth-inning deficit on the strength of Danny Kravitz and Stuart homers to sweep the doubleheader. They took the opener 2-1 behind Harvey Haddix’s arm and Bob Skinner’s two-out, ninth-inning knock that scored Dick Hoak. Face had also won the last five decisions of 1958, giving him a 22 game winning streak. He finished the year 18-1, and his 18 relief wins remains the major league record. The Baron went a month (6/11-7/12) without giving up a run, and his 22 straight wins is second only to Carl Hubbell’s 24-gamer.

ElRoy Face 1959 Topps

• 1960 - The Pirates defeated Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers, 5-2, at the LA Memorial Coliseum. Bob Friend, with late help from ElRoy Face, picked up the win supported by long balls from Dick Groat and Roberto Clemente, who was the only right-handed hitter beside Frank Howard to homer the opposite way in the Coliseum during the season. 
• 2005 - The Milwaukee Brewers fell 6-0 to the Bucs behind Paul Maholm’s four-hitter at Miller Park. It was an oasis in an otherwise arid stretch of games that saw Pittsburgh lose 11-of-12 contests. The Bucs put up a five spot in the first inning, keyed by Jack Wilson’s three-run, bases-loaded double. The Bucs had the bases empty with two outs, but Doug Davis walked four of next the five batters, all on 3-2 pitches, before Wilson cashed in. 
• 2006 - Pittsburgh scored three times in the 11th inning to come back against the Cubs 10-9 at PNC Park. Chicago scored twice off Marty McLeary (who got the win), but the Bucs scored on Jose Castillo’s single to cut the lead to one. Ryan Dempster walked Jose Bautista on four pitches to load the bases for Freddie Sanchez, who lined a two-run, two-out single to right for the win, giving him four RBI on the night. Castillo had four knocks while Jason Bay and Xavier Nady had three hits apiece. 

Marty McLeary 2006 Upper Deck Rookie

• 2011 - Andrew McCutchen was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dismal outing as he hit a ninth inning homer against the Houston Astros in an 8-2 loss at Minute Maid Park, becoming the eighth Pirates player to ring up 20 home runs/20 stolen bases in one season, and the first since Nate McLouth in 2008. 
• 2013 - The Pirates defeated the St. Louis Cards 5-0 at PNC Park behind Francisco Liriano’s two-hitter and a 3-for-4 night by Garrett Jones, who had four RBI and was a triple short of the cycle. The HR was #100 of his career. Pittsburgh moved back into a Central Division tie for first with the Redbirds in front of a sellout crowd of 38,036.