6/12 From 1980: 10,000 Wins; Hit Man Cycle; Groat Day; Shane #1; Game Stories; HBD George

• 1980 - Mike Easler, The Hit Man, lived up to his name by hitting for the cycle as the Bucs won 10-6 over the Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium. John Milner and Dale Berra homered while Phil Garner drilled a pair of doubles to give Jim Bibby, with help from Enrique Romo, the win. 

Mike Easler - 1980 Topps

• 1982 - Don’t overlook the bottom of the order. The Bucs 6-7-8-9 hitters (Tony Pena, Lee Lacy, Dale Berra, Manny Sarmiento) went 8-for-16, scored seven runs, chased home five more, walked three times, stole two bases, and hit a sac fly in a 9-2 romp over the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium. Berra provided the muscle at the back end with a homer and double while Sarmiento backed up his six-hit, complete game outing with his stick, going 2-for-3. 
• 1985 - RHP George Kontos was born in Lincolnwood, Illinois. The Pirates picked up the veteran reliever off the waiver wire from San Francisco, where he had spent six campaigns, in August of 2017. He was nearly a Bucco a decade earlier, though - he and Phil Coke were supposed to go to Pittsburgh in 2008 in the original configuration of the Xavier Nady deal. Kontos won an eighth inning set-up spot by going 1-1-1/1.84 in 15 outings but wasn’t nearly as effective in 2018 as he slashed 2-3-1/5.03. The Bucs let him go in late May and he’s now with the Indians.
• 1991 - Doug Drabek had some help from his friends as he defeated Mike Morgan and the LA Dodgers 2-1 at TRS. The Bucs took the early lead in the third when two singles and a triple by Jay Bell gave him a 2-0 edge; Kal Daniels cut it in half with a solo shot in the fourth. In the sixth, Bobby Bonilla’s arm saved the day when he cut down Eddie Murray trying to score and in the next frame, DD eased out of first-and-third, one-out hot water on a Chico Lind-to-Bell-to-Orlando Merced twin killing. Bob Patterson and Bill Landrum covered the last six outs to nail down the win. 
• 1999 - Ed Sprague, Kevin Young and Jason Kendall homered, Al Martin had four hits and the Bucs banged out five doubles to edge the KC Royals 9-8 at TRS. Sprague singled home Adrian Brown in the ninth for a walk off win to earn Jason Christiansen the W. 

Al Martin - 1999 Topps Chrome

• 2001 - The Pirates put up nine runs in the fourth inning to run away with a 13-3 win over the Tigers at Comerica Park. Abraham Nunez had a bases-loaded triple, Rob Mackowiak banged a two-run homer and John Vander Wal added a two-run single in the big frame. Brian Giles homered and doubled for four RBI to match Nunez’s game total as the Bucs hammered seven extra-base hits. 
• 2013 - The Pirates/Alleghenys collected their 10,000th franchise win when they beat the Giants 12-8 at PNC Park. 236 wins were collected as the Alleghenys of the American Association and 9,764 W were notched in the NL (which are the only ones the team officially recognizes). The top of the Pirate order (Starling Marte - Jordy Mercer - Andrew McCutchen - Gaby Sanchez) propelled the win against SF, going 13-for-19 and scoring eight runs while driving in four. It marked the fourth time in the last 59 seasons that the top four hitters in the Bucs starting lineup each had at least three hits (last happening in 2004), and Marte became first Pirates leadoff hitter since 1916 with a four-hit, four-run, two-steal day. 
• 2015 - The Pirates took 13 innings, along with an 86 minute rain delay, to defeat the Phils 1-0 at PNC Park. Despite the score, it wasn’t much of a pitching duel, actually - the teams were a combined 1-for-19 with RISP and stranded 30 runners; the Phils had at least two men aboard in six of the innings and the Bucs in five. Both sides used seven pitchers, with Antonio Bastardo getting his first Pirate win thanks to Starling Marte’s walk-off single that scored Chris Stewart. 
• 2017 - The Pirates drafted Texas prep RHP Shane Baz first (#12, $4.1M) of Concordia Lutheran HS in the draft. They raided the high schools on the first day, also selecting RHP Steven Jennings (#42 - $1.9M/DeKalb HS, Tennessee), OF Calvin Mitchell (#50 - $1,357,300/Rancho Bernardo HS, California) and OF Conner Uselton (#72 - $804K/Southmoore HS, Oklahoma). Baz was later traded to Tampa Bay as part of the Chris Archer deal. 

Dick Groat recognized - photo via Corey O'Connor

• 2018 - The City of Pittsburgh declared “Dick Groat Day.” They held a ceremony for the Swissvale HS/Duke multi-sports star in Council Chambers and presented him with a resolution that, in part, reads that he “may be the greatest athlete to come out of Pittsburgh.” Groat was a five-time MLB All-Star who played nine seasons with the Pirates and the NL-MVP in 1960. He batted .290 during nine seasons with the Pirates and as a college ballplayer, led Duke to the College World Series as a senior. Dick also played for the NBA's Fort Wayne Pistons in 1952, was the Helms National Player of the Year in 1951, and is in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.