9/10 TRS-PNC Park Era: AVS 1,000; Cutch Inside-the-Park/150 Club; Cubs Cuffed; Mack Smack; HBD Neil & the Chads

• 1974 - The Pirates went on rampage in Chicago,scoring all their runs in the first five innings on the way to a 12-4 win at Wrigley Field. Richie Hebner led the way with fours hits, including a homer, three RBI and two runs scored while Rennie Stennett and Manny Sanguillen each had three knocks and score five times between them. Ken Brett got the win with some late help. 

Chad Hermansen 2001 Upper Deck

• 1977 - OF Chad Hermansen was born in Salt Lake City. The first round (10th overall pick) of the 1995 draft straight out of high school, Hermansen played in parts of the 1999-2002 seasons with the Pirates. Considered the Bucco center fielder of the future, he hit only .199. Chad bounced around the league, mostly as a AAA player, until 2008, and is now an instructor in a Las Vegas baseball school. 
• 1985 - 2B Neil Walker was born in Gibsonia. The switch-hitting Pine-Richland grad, called The Pittsburgh Kid, was a three sport star in HS, and was drafted in the first round of the 2004 draft. Playing mostly catcher and third in the minors, he got his shot in 2010 at second base after Akinori Iwamura fizzled and never looked back. He was sent to the Mets in 2016, the season before his walk year, and ended the season with September back surgery. Still, NY inked him to a one-year, $17.2M qualifying deal. Walker later suffered a hammy injury, missed some action and was dealt in August to Milwaukee, then moved on to the Yankees in 2018. 
• 1992 - RHP Chad Kuhl was born in Newark, Delaware. The Pirates drafted him in the ninth round of the 2013 draft from the U of Delaware. Kuhl made his major league debut on June 26th, 2016, as the he & the Pirates defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers & Clayton Kershaw on ESPN 4-3. Chad joined the rotation full-time in 2017, overcoming a slow start by adding a little velocity and learning to work past lefties to become one of their more dependable pitchers during the campaign. His 2018 campaign was bumpy, and ended with a lengthy DL stint.

Chad Kuhl 2016 Topps Update

• 1993 - Andy Van Slyke collected his 1,000th hit as a Pirate (he finished with 1,108 hits as a Bucco) at TRS when Pittsburgh lost 9-8 in 11 innings vs Colorado. He homered, singled and drove in three runs. It was an exciting finish; the Rox scored three times in the top of the 11th, but the Bucs answered with a pair and AVS was on second as the equalizer when Dave Clark bounced into the final out of the game. Van Slyke had collected his 1,000th MLB hit (he spent his first four seasons in St. Louis) on May 10th, 1991 in a 5-2 Pirate win against the Atlanta Braves. 
• 2003 - The Bucs were down to the last three outs at GABP, down 2-1 to the Reds. Craig Wilson opened the ninth with a single. Rob Mackowiak grabbed a bat to hit for Jason Bay against RHP Chris Reitsma and sent a 1-2 pitch over the wall to give the Pirates the lead. Mike Gonzalez and Julian Tavarez put the game away in exciting fashion: Gonzo got a K, but the pitch escaped Jason Kendall and the runner reached first. Tavarez coolly served up a DP ball and whiffed Wily Mo Pena to ice the win. Mack’s dinger would be the last a Pirate pinch-hitter smacked when the team was trailing in the ninth or later as the go-ahead blow until Sean Rodriguez repeated the heroics in 2016 with a three-run jack. 
• 2014 - Andrew McCutchen hit the first inside-the-park home run of his career and the Bucs pounded out 13 hits in a 6-3 win over Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park. Cutch was one of six Pirates with two hits - Josh Harrison, Starling Marte, Russ Martin, Travis Snider and Jordy Mercer joined him - and Martin added a long ball as Vance Worley claimed the win.

Cutch 2014 Topps Breaking Out

• 2015 - With an eighth inning homer that tied the game at 3-3, Andrew McCutchen became the second player in franchise history to produce at least 150 career home runs and 150 career stolen bases, joining Barry Bonds as the only two to accomplish the feat. It wasn’t enough, though, as the Bucs went down in 12 innings to the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park by a 6-4 count. Radhames Liz, the Pirates eighth pitcher (Milwaukee also used eight; September features some pretty well-stocked bullpens) took the loss while 47 different players made the box score. Fran Cervelli was an on-base machine with three hits and two walks during the match.