9/11 Games: Kiner Power, Dock Busted, Mad Dog Walkoff, Streakin' & Sweepin', FranKie

• 1947 - Ralph Kiner blasted three successive homers and knocked home six runs in a 10-8 win over the Braves at Forbes Field in the nitecap of a DH. He also homered in game one, a 4-3 win that was decided in the 13th when pitcher Kirby Higbe took Johnny Sain long to complete the first step of a Pittsburgh sweep of Boston. Kiner’s four homers in one day established a team record that wouldn’t be matched until 1984 by Jason Thompson. It also set a NL record of 10 multi-homer games in a season which stood until Sammy Sosa had 11 in 1998. 

Ralph Kiner 1947 (photo Associated Press)

• 1948 - Out of the lineup because of a virus‚ Ralph Kiner came off the pine to whack an eighth-inning pinch-hit grand slam to give the Pirates a 13-12 win over Chicago at Wrigley Field. Max West also homered and had three RBI. Mel Queen won with a save by Elmer Riddle. 
• 1974 - The Pirates lost to Philadelphia 8-5 at TRS as the Phils Bill Robinson’s three-run shot off Ramon Hernandez in the eighth won the contest and cut the Pirates lead to 2-½ games with 20 remaining. Worse for the Pirates, Dock Ellis’ hand was broken after he was drilled by Willie Montanez’s liner. The righty had won eight consecutive games and nine out of ten, tossing seven complete games in that ten-game span. He missed the remainder of the season (the Bucs hung on to win by 1-½ games over the Cards) and the NLCS against the Dodgers, who took the set three games to one. Dave Giusti’s bad back continued to pain him (he was bombed in the playoffs) and his iffy status made manager Danny Murtaugh’s job tougher in trying to juggle the needs of both the rotation and bullpen; Bruce Kison was the preferred fill-in for both Ellis and Giusti.
• 1982 - Bill Madlock opened the ninth inning with a walkoff home run, hitting Ron Reed’s first and only pitch, a hung slider. His blast gave the Pirates a see-saw 10-9 victory over the Phillies at TRS. The Bucs had started out up 6-0, but had fallen behind by the sixth. The Pirates regained the lead in the eighth on a two run, two out double by Willie Stargell, but the Phils tied it with a two-out RBI single off Dale Berra’s glove, setting the stage for Mad Dog. Omar Moreno added a pair of triples for the Pirates. Kent Tekulve got the blown save/win combo. 

Bill Madlock 1982 Topps

• 1990 - Randy Tomlin, Neal Heaton and Ted Power combined on a seven hit, 5-1 victory over the Phillies at Veterans Stadium. Lloyd McClendon broke the game open with a two-run, two-out pinch homer in the seventh. For the Bucs, it was their ninth win in 11 games and upped the division lead to 3-½ games. They went into a six game tailspin after the victory and saw their lead dwindle to ½ game, but then won 10-of-11 to take the title comfortably. 
• 2013 - The Pirates completed a three-game sweep of the Rangers with a 7-5 win in Arlington’s Globe Life Park. AJ Burnett won while Kyle Farnsworth, the Bucs fifth pitcher, rang up his first save in almost two years with Pittsburgh’s back-end relievers Jason Grilli (performance) and Mark Melancon (workload) both on ice. Justin Morneau led the attack with four hits while Marlon Byrd chased home a pair of runs and Clint Barmes went deep. For the local nine, it was their ninth consecutive interleague road victory as they finished 15-5 against AL teams. The win kept Pittsburgh one game behind the NL Central-leading St Louis Cardinals and two ahead of the Cincinnati Reds for the wildcard. 
• 2014 - Francisco Liriano punched out a season high 12 batters as the Bucs beat the Phils 4-1 at Citizens Bank Park. Frankie went eight shutout innings giving up three hits - two were infield singles - and two walks while never allowing a runner past second. Pittsburgh iced the game in the fifth against old teammate AJ Burnett when Travis Snider, Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker had consecutive hits. Walker's double scored Snider, Cutch scored on a Russ Martin sacrifice fly and Walker scored on Gregory Polanco’s knock.