7/14 From 1980: Cutch AS HR; Game Stories; ASG's; HBD Jack

• 1987 - The NL used plenty of pitching to take a 2-0 win over the AL in the Midsummer Classic held at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum; it took 13 innings before a run was scored. Tim Raines hit a two-run, two-out triple to win the game and the MVP. Rick Reuschel represented the Bucs and tossed 1-⅓ frames of scoreless ball, giving up a hit and striking out one. 

Rick Reuschel - 1987 Fleer

• 1990 - LHP Jack Leathersich was born in Beverly, Massachusetts. After seeing some time with the Mets and Cubs, Leathersich was claimed by the Bucs from Chicago in September, 2017, after recovering from TJ surgery. He tossed well in a short stay (4-1/3 IP, no runs on three hits with six K) but was DFA’d after the season and now spins for the Cleveland organization.
• 1992 - Lotta lumber being swung at the Midsummer Classic as the AL took a 13-6 victory from the senior circuit at Jack Murphy Stadium. The junior circuit banged out 19 hits with two leaving the yard. Outfielders Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke started; Bonds went 1-for-3 with a double and a run while AVS went 0-for-2 and hit into a DP. Barry also took part in the home run derby, hitting two dingers in the first round.
• 1997 - The Bucs came from behind three times, falling behind 1-0, 2-1, and 4-3, to finally beat the Mets 5-4 at TRS to take their 10th win in 12 games. Steve Cooke left after seven with a 3-2 lead, but New York scored twice off Clint Sadowsky in the eighth to leapfrog ahead. The Pirates tallied twice in the eighth for the victory on four straight hits: doubles by Al Martin, Kevin Young and Jason Kendall sandwiched around a knock by Dale Sveum. Rich Loiselle picked up his 12th save (he finished the year with 29), tying the club rookie record set by Francisco Cordova one year earlier. Ricardo Rincon got the win.
• 2009 - The AL continued to snowball over the NL in All Star competition, taking a 4-3 victory at Busch Stadium. P Zach Duke and 2B Freddy Sanchez made the team, but didn’t get into the game. President Barack Obama, wearing a White Sox jacket, threw out the first pitch and later briefly joined Joe Buck and Tim McCarver in the Fox booth.

Cole Train, The Shark, Cutch & AJ - 2015 Topps ASG

• 2015 - Andrew McCutchen started and batted leadoff for the NL in the ASG played at Great American Ballpark. Cutch contributed a home run going 1-for-3, but the AL won their third straight game 6-3. Gerrit Cole tossed a scoreless frame while Mark Melancon struck out a pair in his inning of work but was touched up for a two-out, two-strike homer by the Twins’ Brian Dozier. AJ Burnett, in his first All Star game after 17 years in the show, didn’t get into the fray. Commissioner Bud Selig allowed Pete Rose to be recognized before the game along with former teammates Johnny Bench, Barry Larkin, and Joe Morgan.
• 2017 - The Bucs spotted the Cards a 2-0 first-inning lead at PNC Park but ground their way to a 5-2 win that was nowhere as easy as the score would indicate. Gerrit Cole recovered nicely after the rough opening while Tony Watson, Juan Nicasio and Felipe Rivero held the fort to allow the Pirates to tie the game at two going into the ninth. With Adam Frazier on second and an out, Andrew McCutchen was given an intentional pass so that Seung Hwan Oh could face rookie Josh Bell. He got ahead 1-2, then J-Bell went the opposite way for a walk off blast and a 5-2 win. Bell’s homer would be the first of three walk off wins in a six-day span for the Bucs.
• 2018 - The Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Milwaukee Brewers by 2-1 and 6-2 scores at PNC Park. Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco hit back-to-back homers in the first inning of the opener off Chase Anderson, and five Pirate pitchers, beginning with Ivan Nova and finishing with Felipe Vazquez, held off the Brew Crew. The nightcap featured stellar work by young Pirates: Clay Holmes tossed six shutout innings, Jordan Luplow homered twice & Max Moroff once while Marte & Polanco become the second Pirate duo to hit back-to-back homers in both ends of a twin bill (Frank Thomas and Dick Groat were the first in 1957; only one other MLB pair, Oakland's Sal Bando & Reggie Jackson in 1988, has matched the feat). Vazquez got the final out of the second game, earning a pair of saves on the day to run his total to 23 on the year.