8/4 From the 60’s Forward: KY Rolls Fours; San Diego See-Saw; Sharp Pitching; HBD Ruben & Steve

• 1964 - C Ruben Rodriguez was born in Cabrera, Dominican Republic. His big league stay consisted of four games, two in 1986 and two more in 1988, for the Bucs. He went 1-for-8 with a triple. The Pirates signed him as a 17-year-old and he played minor league ball from 1982-94, closing out his career in 1995 in Mexico. He became the bullpen coach for the Royals and is now a youth instructor. 

Ruben Rodriguez 1985 TCMA

• 1967 - OF Steve Bieser was born in Perryville, Missouri. Steve played for the Mets in 1987 and got into 13 games as a Pirate in 1988, going 3-for-11 with a double. Bieser spent 13 years in pro ball, then retired to become a high school coach and later the manager at Southeast Missouri, his alma mater. 
• 1971 - OK, this is stretching Pittsburgh baseball history a bit, but blood is blood... Tom Walker of Dallas-Fort Worth in the Texas League pitched a 15-inning no-hitter in a 1-0 win over Albuquerque. Tom is Neil Walker’s dad, and after spending six campaigns in the show, his last pro season was with Pittsburgh’s AAA Columbus club in 1978. He retired, moved to the City, and you know the rest of the tale. 
• 1990 - The Pirates broke open a 1-1 duel in the 10th when Don Slaught doubled home Gary Redus and Chico Lind for the win at Veteran's Stadium. Bob Patterson gave up the Phils’ only run in the bottom of the ninth, but got the victory when Ted Power closed out the extra frame. Starter Neal Heaton and Stan Belinda put up the other goose eggs. 
• 1992 - Alex Cole’s walk off single in the 12th inning lifted the Pirates past the NY Mets, 3-2, at TRS. Don Slaught went 2-for-5 and scored the winning run on Cole’s single. Gary Redus drove in Jose Lind to tie the game at 2-2 in the seventh. The first Buc run came on Sluggo’s two-out single that plated Lloyd McClendon in the second frame. Bob Walk pitched three scoreless innings in relief as the Bucs fourth pitcher of the night with Danny Jackson starting. 

Kevin Young 1998 Score

• 1998 - Fours were wild as 1B Kevin Young went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and four RBI during a 13-5 win over the Rockies at TRS. None of the Bucs went yard, but they did bang out nine doubles off four Colorado pitchers, with Young cranking out three of them. Jason Christiansen, the fourth of five Pirates hurlers, got the win. 
• 2006 - Tom Gorzelanny went eight innings of two-hit ball and struck out seven as the Bucs beat the Cubs at Wrigley Field 6-0. Xavier Nady went 4-for-5 with three doubles, two RBI and two runs. Jose Castillo and Ronny Paulino each homered, had two knocks and chased home a pair of runs. 
• 2017 - The Pirates, who had dropped the series at San Diego the week before and were in the throes of losing eight-of-10, fell behind Travis Wood and the Padres 3-0. They put together back-to-back two-run frames to tie the game before a bullpen implosion put them behind the eight ball again by a 6-4 count in the seventh (each team twice surrendered leads). But they had one more hurrah left, and behind a three-run pinch-hit homer by Gregory Polanco and a two-out, two-run knock by Josh Harrison rallied one more time to defeat the Friars 10-6 at PNC Park. 32,243 were at the game, which was delayed for two hours by a passing storm, and they hung around to listen to Chicago and “Saturday in the Park” (the game began Friday night but the band didn’t get on stage until 1AM Saturday morning). David Freese also homered while AJ Schugel got the win despite facing just two batters and walking in a run.