9/19 From 1990: #20 For Doug; Jay Chases Home 8; Ian's First; Game Stories

• 1990 - Doug Drabek won his 20th game and Bobby Bonds hit his 30th and 31st HRs as Pittsburgh beat Chicago 8-7 at Wrigley Field. Bonds and his dad became the first father-son members of the 30/30 club. Two days later, Bonds swiped his 50th base of the season to become the second MLB player to join the 30/50 club, joining the Reds’ Eric Davis. 

Dave Clark - 1994 Stadium Club

• 1993 - A Buc rally fell short as the Cards prevailed 7-6 at Busch Stadium. Dave Clark swatted a two-run, pinch hit homer in the ninth to give the Bucs a 6-5 lead, but Mark Dewey surrendered the game after two outs with a walk (the second of the inning; the other was charged to Denny Neagle) and a double just inside the line by Mark Whiten that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Carlos Garcia and Jeff King each had three hits in the heartbreaker. Clark’s homer would be the last for another decade to give the Bucs the lead in the ninth after trailing going in until Rob Mackowiak’s blast defeated the Reds in 2003. 
• 1997 - The Pirates held a Roberto Clemente commemoration night, unveiling a video of his career highlights followed by his widow Vera tossing out the first pitch at TRS before playing the Cards. They lost 6-5 in front of 16,235. 
• 1998 - Jose Guillen homered and doubled to drive in five runs while Francisco Cordova scattered eight hits over eight innings (Rick Loiselle mopped up) for a 7-1 win over Houston at TRS. Turner Ward also went deep and Jason Kendall & Adrian Brown added two knocks each. The victory ended a seven-game losing streak to the Astros, whose pitching had dominated the Bucs during the season. 
• 2000 - The Pirates rode a nine-run sixth inning to a 12-8 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium. The Bucs sent 13 batters to the plate, with the big hits being a two-run knock by Emil Brown and a bases loaded double by John Wehner. The Phils made a game of it in the ninth, scoring three runs off Scott Sauerbeck before Mike Williams came on to end it. 
• 2003 - Jason Bay drove in eight runs (the franchise single game record is nine, set by Johnny Rizzo in 1939) during a 10-9 loss to the Cubs, hitting a pair of homers and a double in the first game of a DH split at PNC Park. It was a tale of two games; Chicago scored the final run in the top of the sixth and there was just one more hit between both clubs over the final 3-½ innings. The Buc bats stayed hot in a 10-6 response with Matt Stairs going long and five different Pirates collecting a pair of hits to give Salomon Torres the win. 

Jason Bay - 2004 Topps Rookie of the Year

• 2005 - Ian Snell pitched eight innings to earn his first MLB win as he beat Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros 7–0 at PNC Park. Snell allowed just three hits, retiring the final nine batters he faced before José Mesa closed out the four-hit shutout in the ninth. Four different Pirates - Tike Redman, Jason Bay, Jack Wilson & Freddy Sanchez - had three hits, and every Buc starter except JJ Furmaniak had a hit and scored/drove in a run (or both). Though a loss, the game checked off another notch on Clemens’ bucket list - he had now pitched in every major league ballpark currently in operation. 
• 2014 - The Pirates were dueling with the Milwaukee Brewers for the last wild card spot and losing late 2-0 at PNC Park, unable to dent long time nemesis Yovani Gallardo. Jonathan Broxton came on in the eighth, and after giving up singles to Starling Marte and Neil Walker, watched Russ Martin launch a ball into the right center field seats to give the Bucs a 3-2 lead, with the electrified sellout crowd of 37,974 fans demanding a curtain call. Ike Davis singled in an insurance run as John Holdzkom earned his first MLB win after a strong start by Jeff Locke, with Mark Melancon nailing down his 31st save. It also marked the 21st time that the Pirates won a game during their last at-bat that season. 
• 2015 - Francisco Liriano and the Pirates beat LA ace Clayton Kershaw at Dodger Stadium 3-2 to snap a four-game losing streak. Frankie K’ed nine and retired 16 straight batters during one stretch; Tony Watson and Mark Melancon finished up the game, with Mark the Shark recording a club record-setting 47th save. Andrew McCutchen and Aramis Ramirez provided the offense with doubles; Cutch’s two-bagger drove in a pair and A-Ram’s was the game-winner. The Pirates couldn’t quite catch the Cards in the NL Central race, falling two games short, but did win 98 games and finished as the top wild card team in the NL. 
• 2018 - In a squeak-by series, the Bucs completed a sweep of the sad-sack Kansas City Royals (this was their 100th loss) by taking the nightcap of a twin bill by a 2-1 score at PNC Park. They won the opener 7-6 on a two-out, ninth-inning walk off hit by Jacob Stallings, the Bucs third-string catcher and a September call up from AAA Indianapolis. Then they took the middle game, 2-1, in 11 innings on a walk off single by Ryan Lavarnway, the fourth-string catcher and also a September call up from Indy, after a blown save by Felipe Vazquez, his first after converting 24 straight save opportunities. It was Stallings’ second MLB walk off knock and Lavarnway’s first. The final game wasn’t quite as dramatic - there were no walk off heroics, with the game winner a solo shot by 2B Adam Frazier in the fifth inning, followed by a row of goose eggs for both clubs. For the Pirates, it was part of a nice, albeit late (“wait til next year,” alas), run as they took their fifth straight win and were on an 11-of-14 roll to go three games over .500.