9/13 TRS-PNC Park Era: Roberto's Last HR; Can of Corn; Coonelly Hired; B-2-B-2-B; HBD Andy & Armando; Game Stories

• 1970 - The famous “can of corn” call was made by The Gunner Bob Prince after Willie Smith hit a routine fly to Matty Alou with the Bucs up 2-1, two outs and the bases empty in the ninth. He dropped it as the Wrigley wind was blowing in, and the Cubs rallied for the win. Despite cutting the Buc lead in the NL East to ½ game, the Pirates took the title running away, finishing with a five game cushion over the Cubbies. 

Armando Rios 2002 Topps Total

• 1971 - OF Armando Rios was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. A member of LSU’s College World Series winners, he played four seasons for the Giants before coming to Pittsburgh at the 2001 deadline along with Ryan Vogelsong in exchange for Jason Schmidt and John Vander Wal. Rios was hurt at the time of the deal and played two games for Pittsburgh; in 2002 he hit .264 in 76 games with no pop and was released at the end of the year. He played one more season in the show and then went to the Latin leagues. He was one of the witnesses in the 2003 BALCO case and was associated with PED use. 
• 1972 - Roberto Clemente hit his last homer, a two-run, two-out blast to center off Fergie Jenkins at Wrigley Field in the seventh to lead the Bucs to a 6-4 win at Wrigley Field. It was his 10th of the season and 240th career homer. Clemente also tripled and scored three times to help Nellie Brilesto the win. 
• 1983 - 3B Andy LaRoche was born in Fort Scott, Kansas. Part of the Jason Bay deal, the much ballyhooed LaRoche came to Pittsburgh from LA at the 2008 trade deadline, joining brother Adam. He was a Pirate until 2010, but hit only .226 during that time. He played briefly for Oakland and Toronto after his Buc tour of duty and last played in the indie leagues in 2015-16. 
• 1987 - The Pirates won their seventh in a row and 15-of-18 as they dropped the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 at Veterans Stadium. Bobby Bonilla and Sid Bream had three knocks each to lead a balanced 15 hit attack that eventually wore the Phils down. Brian Fisher tossed a complete game five-hitter with 10 K for the win. 
• 2007 - The Pirates officially announced that Frank Coonelly was the team’s new CEO (a post usually held by the owner), replacing Kevin McClatchy. Coonelly, an attorney, previously served as a Senior Vice President in the Commissioner's Office, where he was in charge of various matters including arbitration hearings and draft bonuses. 

Frank Coonelly (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

• 2010 - The Pirates lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to the Mets at Citi Field in 10 innings, wasting three leadoff doubles. James McDonald went eight frames of five-hit ball, but the Mets finally plated off reliever Chan Ho Park, who took the loss. 
• 2013 - Pedro Alvarez, Russ Martin and Garrett Jones hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the fourth inning off the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta, but a pair of two-run Chicago blasts carried the day as the Pirates fell 5-4. It was the first time that the Bucs had hit three consecutive homers at PNC Park and had an improbable degree of difficulty as Pedro’s was a stand-up inside-the-park shot. (He later told Root Sports that it was the first he could remember since “...little league.”) 
• 2015 - Josh Harrison drove in Pedro Florimon with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning for a walkoff win over the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park in front of 34,170 fans. Pittsburgh trailed 6-1 entering the bottom half of the fourth inning before producing their largest comeback win of the season. The key early blow was Travis Snider’s two-run double in the fourth and back-to-back RBI knocks by Andrew McCutchen and Jung Ho Kang in the seventh to tie the match. The victory went to the Bucs’ eighth pitcher of the game, Jared Hughes, and put the club 30 games above .500 with a record of 86-56.