8/23: Short No-No; Drysdale Dropped Twice; Hot Arriba; Welcome to Pgh Joe; Middle Monsters; Game Stories; HBD Tyler & Mississippi Mudcat

• 1901 - RHP Guy “Mississippi Mudcat” Bush was born in Aberdeen, Mississippi. Guy worked in 1935-36 for Pittsburgh toward the end of his 17-year career, posting a line of 12-14-4, 4.46 in 57 outings. He started in his first season and was converted to the pen in his second; that didn’t go so well and he was released in July. He did make the record books with the Bucs, though - he served up Babe Ruth’s final two home runs at Forbes Field in 1935 with the Bambino’s last dinger being the first ever to clear the right-field roof. He got his nickname from Chicago sportswriters who liked to describe him in their stories as a homespun backwoods boy. 

Howie Camnitz 1909 American Tobacco

• 1907 - Howie Camnitz threw a five inning no-hitter with four walks against Mike Lynch and the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. The game was the nitecap of a doubleheader. After the first match went extra innings (the Pirates won 4-2 in 10 frames behind Sam Leever and Honus Wagner’s three hits), the teams agreed to a shortened second game. Pittsburgh won 1-0. 
• 1910 - Despite manager and LF’er Fred Clarke’s four assists from the outfield, the Bucs fell 6-2 to the Philadelphia Phillies at Forbes Field. Clarke’s four toss-outs - one at home, another at third, and two more at second - set an individual NL record. He also made a neat running catch in the eighth inning to take away extra bases from John Titus. Chief Wilson added another assist from RF, and the team total of five for a game tied a NL mark. 
• 1959 - The Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Dodgers‚ beating Don Drysdale in both games. As a starter‚ Drysdale lost the opener 9-2, lasting 2-2/3 frames‚ then relieved in the nitecap, taking a 4-3 loss in the 10th inning. ElRoy Face won his 16th of the year without a loss in the second game, equaling Cal Hubbell's (1936) and Ewell Blackwell's (1947) record streaks. 
• 1970 - Roberto Clemente had his second straight five-hit game against Los Angeles, the first major leaguer this century to total 10 hits in consecutive games (per BR Bullpen, skipper Danny Murtaugh whistled and said: “Ten hits in two games! When I was playing, that was my quota for a month.”) Clemente banged a homer, double, three RBI and scored four runs in the 11-0 win at Dodger Stadium. Bill Mazeroski added four hits while Freddy Patek, Matty Alou and Manny Sanguillen each had three knocks. Steve Blass cruised to the victory, tossing a complete game four-hitter with eight whiffs. 

Al Oliver 1999 Fleer/SI Greats of the Game

• 1977 - It was a back-and-forth game to the end: up by a run with Goose Gossage on the bump in the ninth, Gene Tenace launched a two-out solo homer to tie the game after the Pirates had rallied for the lead in the eighth. But Al Oliver had an answer when he led off the Bucco half with a blast off Rollie Fingers to give the Pirates a 7-6 win over San Diego at TRS. Scoops and Dave Parker had a pair of hits each and Bill Robinson added a two-run long ball to give the Goose a blown save/victory. It was also announced that Willie Stargell would have surgery on his elbow and he’d be lost for the rest of the season after spending six weeks on the DL. He bounced back after the procedure, landing an All-Star berth in ‘78. 
• 1993 - RHP Tyler Glasnow was born in Newhall, California. Glasnow was the Pirates 5th round pick in the 2011 draft and the prep star gave up a ride to to the University of Portland by signing for a $600 K. Tyler dominated in the minors and was a consensus Top 25 Prospect, getting his first call to the show in 2016. He broke camp with the club the following year but was sent back to Indy in June after being batted around in the rotation and got 13 starts with the big club in 2017. He was sent to Tampa Bay in 2018 as part of the Chris Archer deal after working out of the Bucco bullpen. 
• 2001 - The Pirates defeated the Diamondbacks 5-1 in front of 30,784 at PNC Park, despite a 16-strikeout performance by Randy Johnson, who became the first pitcher in history to fan 300 batters in four straight seasons. Johnson only gave up six hits, but he walked nine batters in the loss to Tony McKnight and the bullpen. The big blows off the Big Unit were a two-run homer by Kevin Young and two-run pinch-hit double by Keith Osik, both in the seventh. 

Pedro Alvarez 2014 Topps Opening Day

• 2014 - The Pirates 4-5-6 hitters (Neil Walker, Russ Martin & Pedro Alvarez) went 7-for-11 with three walks, two doubles, three homers, six runs scored and 10 RBI to help rough up the Milwaukee Brewers 10-2 at Miller Park. Alvarez hit a pair of opposite field homers after a six week long ball drought, one of them coming back-to-back following Martin’s blast into the bullpen. Edinson Volquez got the win with clutch pitching - he gave up 11 hits in 5-⅔ IP, but stranded runners at second and third with no outs once and later in the game worked out of a bases loaded jam with one out against Ryan Braun & Aramis Ramirez, getting an infield pop and swinging K. 
• 2016 - The first six Pirates to bat hit safely against Houston’s Joe Musgrove - Adam Frazier (single), Matt Joyce (double), Andrew McCutchen (double), Gregory Polanco (single), David Freese (single) & Josh Bell (single) - before Bell was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double and the Bucs scored four times on the way to a 7-1 victory at PNC Park. Ivan Nova tossed a complete game six-hitter on 98 pitches, losing a shutout in the ninth inning, while Polanco launched a pair of home runs. It was the first time since 1975 that the Pirates strung together that many knocks to open a game when the first eight Buccos banged out hits. Despite that soft rookie outing, Musgrove join the Pirates as a major piece of the 2018 Gerrit Cole trade with the ‘Stros. 
• 2017 - The Dodgers Rich Hill took a perfect game into the ninth inning at PNC Park and a no-hitter into the 10th; both went by the wayside as the Pirates prevailed in an unlikely 1-0 victory. The perfecto was lost on Logan Forsythe’s error while the no-no (and game) was lost on Josh Harrison’s leadoff, walk-off homer in overtime. Trevor Williams matched zeroes with him through eight innings without the style points - he gave up seven hits, four walks and bopped a batter, but stranded nine runners thanks to a pair of DPs and a throw-out on the bases. Felipe Rivero and Juan Nicasio kept the Trolley Dodgers at bay for the win.