9/14 From the 1980’s Forward: Double Grannies; 19 & Counting; Triple Your Pleasure; Rallies; HBD El Coffee

• 1982 - Richie Hebner and Bill Madlock stroked grand slams to lead the Pirates to a 15-5 win over the Cubs at TRS. Mad Dog drove six runs home while Johnny Ray went 3-for-3 and scored three times with a RBI. The last pair of Bucs to hit grand salamis in the same game were Arky Vaughan and Earl Grace for the 1933 Bucs in a 10-0 romp over the Phils. 

Gregory Polanco (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

• 1991 - OF Gregory Polanco was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He made his debut on June 10th, 2014, against the Cubs. In that game, he recorded his first MLB hit against Travis Wood. His first career home run, a two-run shot, against the Miami Marlins in the 13th inning was the game winner in an 8–6 victory. On June 18th, he became the first Pirate with a hit in each of his first eight games. Polanco has since developed into a .255, 20-HR right fielder. He got his nickname of El Coffee as a Dominican teen baller; he reminded one of his coaches of an older player with that moniker. 
• 1992 - In a game that saw the lead go back and forth between the fourth and eighth innings, the Pirates prevailed barely by taking a 10-inning, 5-4, victory from the Cards at Busch Stadium. A leadoff error and two singles put the Bucs up in the extra frame with Cecil Espy plating Alex Cole, but Lee Smith fanned a pair with the insurance run on third to keep it close. The Redbirds came right back when a leadoff double and wild pitch sat the tying run 90’ away with no outs. Roger Mason got a roller to freeze Bernard Gilkey at third, Denny Neagle fanned Ray Lankford and the third pitcher of the inning, Stan Belinda, served a liner to center that was gloved by Andy Van Slyke to finally nail down the win. The Pirates had 14 hits on the day with five different Buccos banging out a pair of knocks but stranded 13 to put their nose to the grindstone. 
• 2007 - The Bucs scored three times in the eighth to defeat the Astros 4-3 at Minute Maid Park as Jose Bautista bombed a two-run homer and Ronnie Paulino’s two-out single brought in Steve Pearce with the eventual game winner. But the play of the game was made by CF Nyjer Morgan, who took a circle route to run down Ty Wigginton’s two-out, bases-loaded blast in the third, kissing the wall as he made the grab to prevent Houston from running away and hiding early in the contest. Romulo Sanchez got the win with a Matt Capps save.

Joey Bats 2007 Upper Deck

• 2011 - With a 3-2 loss to St. Louis, the Pirates extended their record streak of consecutive losing seasons to 19 straight years, adding to the longest in American professional sports history. And this was after leading the NL Central on July 20th! The streak would go on one more season until the playoff team of 2013 won 94 games. 
• 2014 - The Pirates were sleepwalking against the Cubs, losing 3-0 in the fourth with Chicago runners at first and second with no outs and ready to run away. Matt Szczur hit a hot shot to third; Josh Harrison gloved it, stepped on the bag and fired a bullet to second, where Neil Walker made a strong turn and got the ball to Andrew Lambo at first for a triple play. Two innings later, the Pirates broke out of their stupor and surged ahead 6-3 on the way to a 7-3 victory at PNC Park. Neil Walker hit his 20th homer, breaking the Pirate single season mark for 2B held by Bill Mazeroski (19), set in 1958. Triple play trivia: it was first triple play turned by the Pirates since April 12th, 2009, at Cincy and the first ever turned by anyone at PNC Park. The last one in Pittsburgh was August 10th, 1993, vs. the Cardinals at TRS. There hadn't been a 5-4-3 around-the-horn triple play by the Bucs since July 23rd, 1979 (also at TRS), scored Bill Madlock to Phil Garner to Willie Stargell. It was the first TP that the Cubs hit into since May 14th, 2000, at Montreal. Walker, btw, would be involved in another triple play against St. Louis the following season.