4/19 TRS-PNC Park Era: Foli Deal; Game Stories; HBD Joe, Denny & Zach

• 1977 - Joe Beimel was born in St. Mary’s in Elk County. The lefty from Duquesne University started his career in Pittsburgh (2001-03) and made another stop in 2012. He was 11-20 in his four campaigns with the Bucs, pitching to a 5.03 ERA. The Bucs released him after he had TJ surgery in 2012. Joe last pitched in the majors in 2015 and retired in 2017 after 13 MLB campaigns. In all those seasons, he pitched without a safety net - Beimel never had a contract that was for longer than one year. 

Joe Beimel 2001 Leaf Rookie

• 1977 - LHP Denny “Big Sweat” Reyes was born in Higuera de Zaragoza, Mexico. Denny spent 15 years in the majors with 12 very forgettable outings as a Pirate in 2003 when he gave up a dozen runs in 10+ innings. The Bucs waived him in May and he bounced around until catching a second wind in 2006 with the Twins; he put up five solid seasons with them and the Cards before tossing his last outing in 2011 for the Red Sox. As for his nickname - at 6’3” and 250 pounds, there were plenty of big sweats dripping off Denny. 
• 1979 - The Mets traded Tim Foli and minor league prospect Greg Field to the Pirates in exchange for SS Frank Taveras. Foli solidified the infield for the eventual World Champs, batting .291 and appearing in 133 games. He stayed with the Bucs through 1981, went to the AL for three seasons and spent his last year as a Pirate in 1985. 
• 1983 - LHP Zach Duke was born in Clifton, Texas. He spent the first six years of his career in Pittsburgh and put up a line of 49-75/4.99. Called up in July of 2005 after being named the Bucco Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2004, he went 8-2 with a 1.81 ERA, but never posted an ERA south of four after that as a Pirate, leaving the club after the 2010. Zachster had TJ surgery in 2017, coming back in late July to work for the Cards. He signed with the Twins for this campaign. 
• 1986 - Happy birthday to me! Leadoff hitter RJ Reynolds celebrated his 27th birthday with a grand slam off Chicago’s Scott Sanderson in the fourth inning at Wrigley Field during a 14-8 Pirates win. The game featured six home runs (three by each team) and 28 hits (14 by each team). 

RJ Reynolds 1986 Fleer

• 2013 - Wandy Rodriguez tossed seven innings of one-hit ball as the Bucs beat the NL-leading Atlanta Braves 6-0 at PNC Park. The Bravos ended up with two hits with both runners erased on DP balls. There were no walks or errors so the three Pirate hurlers (Wandy, Mark Melancon, Vin Mazzaro) faced the minimum 27 batters. 
• 2017 - The Pirates were swept by the St Louis Cardinals in a three-game set at Busch Stadium by identical 2-1 scores. It was the first time since 1888 that the Pirates (then the Alleghenys) had given up six or fewer runs in a three-game series and lost all three times (1-0, 1-0, 2-0). The hard-luck losers were Ivan Nova, Chad Kuhl and Gerrit Cole. It was also odd in that it continued a pattern of sweeps in April - the Pirates were swept by Boston, took three from Atlanta, were swept by Cincinnati, won a three-gamer against the Cubs and were broomed by the Redbirds. Bucco historian John Dreker of Pirates Prospects noted that the 1890 Pirates/Alleghenys had six straight sweeps from Aug 13th-Sept 2nd. Technically, that streak reached eight sweeps if you count a series that was just one game due to bad weather.