8/2 From 1980 Forward: Felipe ROTM; Angels Deal; Gott Claimed; Basebrawl; Rock the Glove; Game Stories

• 1985 - The last-place Pirates dumped a trio of players, trading pitchers John Candelaria and Al Holland along with OF George Hendrick to the Angels for OF Mike Brown and pitchers Pat Clements & Bob Kipper in a move to add some youth to the roster while moving two veterans who were described by the media as “disgruntled” and another in his walk year.
• 1987 - One day before his birthday, the Bucs picked up Jim Gott off waivers from the Giants. In a season plus, he saved 47 games for the Pirates, but an elbow injury in 1989 limited him to one outing, and Pittsburgh let him go as a free agent. He’s now coaching in the Angel’s system. 

Jim Gott - 1987 Donruss

• 1992 - The Bucs were down 1-0 with two outs in the ninth to St. Louis at TRS with Lee Smith on the hill and Andy Van Slyke on second before rallying for the win. Jeff King singled AVS home to tie it and went to second on the play at the plate, then Don Slaught’s knock chased King around for the walk off win. Randy Tomlin went eight six-hit innings, but Bob Walk notched the victory for putting up a final-frame zero. It also marked the beginning of John Wehner’s 99-game errorless streak at third base. The Rock wouldn’t make another error until October 1st, 2000, in a 10-9 loss to the Cubs, to share the MLB flawless fielding mark at the hot corner with Jeff Cirillo. It was deja vu all over again; his error in 1992 was a bad throw against the Cubs; his streak ended with another errant toss against Chicago nine years later. 
• 1993 - The Cubs beat the Pirates‚ 12-10‚ at Wrigley Field in a game marked by seven HRs‚ six ejections‚ three brushbacks and a brawl. Carlos Garcia had a pair of homers for the Bucs‚ and was beaned in his next at-bat by Bob Scanlon, instigating the meet-at-the-mound scrum when Pirates pitcher Blas Minor took aim at Mark Grace later (Minor threw behind him; old-school Grace later said he expected to get drilled; if Minor had just hit him, he would jogged to first and there would have been no problems). Sammy Sosa led the charge off the bench and several debates broke out until Kevin Young found Scanlan and gave him a tap; Ryne Sandberg came to his defense and the dancing began in earnest. McClendon and Al Martin also went long for Pittsburgh in the come-from-ahead loss. Paul Wagner had an 8-2 lead but tried to pitch through a hammy he injured fielding a bunt, allowing the Cubs to come back to tie. 
• 2002 - The Bucs walked off with a 6-5 win over the SF Giants at PNC Park. Down a run with two outs in the ninth, Jason Kendall lined a single and Jack Wilson followed with a bloop. Brian Giles drilled Rob Nenn’s 1-2 pitch into left center to plate them both for the win. Adam Hyzdu and Rob Mackowiak homered for the Bucs while Brian Boehringer got the win. 
• 2003 - The Pirates beat the Colorado Rockies at PNC in front of 37,820 fireworks night fans by a 1-0 count. The shutout was spun by the unlikely trio of Brian Meadows, Brian Boehringer amd Mike Lincoln. Meadows scattered five hits over seven innings and Bo followed with a clean eighth, but left in the ninth with an out and Rox on the corners. Lincoln’s first pitch to Jay Payton was tapped to short for a game-ending 6-4-3 that was hotly disputed by the Colorado manager Clint Hurdle (he was still a few years away from making PNC Park his home office), along with the first base coach and Peyton. The Bucco run was scored by Randall Simon in the second inning after a Jose Hernandez double and an RBI grounder by Abraham Nunez. 

Ronny Paulino - 2007 Stadium Club Beam Team

• 2007 - It took 11 innings, but Pittsburgh whipped the Cards 6-5 at PNC Park. With two down, Jose Castillo's single scored Ryan Doumit from second. Ronnie Paulino had a homer and double while Salomon Torres picked up the win after two innings of shutout ball. 
• 2018 - Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez was named NL Reliever of the Month for July while setup men Kyle Crick and Edgar Santana also received votes. All-Star Vazquez had a win, eight saves, a 1.46 ERA and 22K in 12-1/3 IP. The Nightmare was the first Pirates RoM since Jason Grilli took the honors in April & May 2013.