9/29 From the 1950s: Teke Takes Two; Rose Noses Matty; Brown Bros; HBD Kenny & Game Stories

• 1950 - Ken Macha was born in Monroeville. The Gateway grad, a sixth round draft pick in 1972, played briefly for the Bucs (1974, 1977-78), hitting .263 as a corner utilityman. He made his name as a MLB coach and manager of the Oakland Athletics and Milwaukee Brewers. Ken is retired and now lives in Latrobe after a stint as a pre-game analyst for Root Sports. 

Kenny Macha 1978 Topps

• 1957 - The New York Giants played their final game at the Polo Grounds before pulling up their stakes and heading west, losing to the Pirates 9-1. Bob Friend got the win; Johnny Antonelli took the loss. Roberto Clemente, Johnny Powers and Friend each had three hits; rookie Powers hit the last homer and tallied the final RBI ever at the yard. After the game, 11‚606 fans swarmed for keepsakes as both teams retreated to the center field clubhouses for safety. 
• 1968 - Ahead of Matty Alou by a razor’s edge on the season’s last day, Pete Rose went 1-for-3 to keep his average at .335 while the Pirates outfielder wore an 0-for-4 collar in a 5-4 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field, finishing the year with a BA of .332. The day before, the batting crown rivals were en fuego, combining to go 9-for-9 to set up the final day showdown. 
• 1978 - Kent Tekulve won both ends of a season-ending DH over the Phils at TRS in relief‚ 5-4 and 2-1. He pitched two innings in the opener and 1-1/3 frames in the nitecap‚ winning in the 10th. Both wins were gift wrapped; the Bucs won the opener when the relay to third on Ed Ott’s two-out, ninth-inning triple got away, and the Phils balked in the winning run in the ninth inning of the nitecap. Bruce Kison made the pitcher trivia rounds in the second game when he homered off Steve Carlton. That gave him a season natural batting cycle of a single, double, triple and homer in that order. Of course, for a hitter, a natural cycle begins with his first at-bat; with pitcher Kison, it started with a single on July 20th, with quite a few outs sprinkled in between. The twilighter drew 45,134 fans as a September run by the Bucs cut the Phils lead to 1-½ games after their 24th straight win at TRS. Pittsburgh finished two games back, but the stretch run pointed the way to 1979. 

Teke 1978 Topps

• 1990 - Bob Walk threw a four-hit complete game, winning an 8-0 decision over St. Louis at Busch Stadium in a match of the top dog Pirates and cellar-dwelling Cards. The 6-7-8 bottom of the order batters (Sid Bream, Mike LaValliere & Chico Lind) had two hits each and scored six runs, with even Walk contributing a RBI double from the nine-hole. The win almost put Pittsburgh over the top; they would clinch the division by eliminating the NY Mets the next day. 
• 1992 - The Pirates won their sixth straight game by a 3-0 score over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field as Zane Smith, Paul Wagner (the winner), Steve Cooke and Stan Belinda combined on a two-hitter to put the Bucs nine games up in the standings. Andy Van Slyke homered and drove in a pair of runs to spark the Pirate attack. The Buccos other run came on a Carlos Garcia sac fly that scored Gary Varsho. 
• 1999 - In an oddity noted by BR Bullpen, the Bucs 1-2-3 hitters against the Milwaukee Brewers at County Stadium were Adrian Brown, Emil Brown and Brant Brown. Adrian had two hits and Brant drove in a run, but the Brown bunch wasn’t strong enough to carry the day as the Pirates fell 5-2. 
• 2012 - Andrew McCutchen hit a walk-off homer to right center off Jonathan Broxton of the Cincinnati Reds with one down in the ninth inning for his 31st long ball of the season. It gave the Pirates a 2-1 win at PNC Park in front of a Saturday night crowd of 38,623. Alex Presley doubled home Chase d'Arnaud in the seventh for the Bucs first run. Kyle McPherson started the game, and Joel Hanrahan finished for the win.