9/20 From 1980: Coke Trail; Trips to Open; Gott to be Good; Game Stories; HBD Steve

• 1983 - Larry McWilliams tossed a two-hitter with a career-high 11 whiffs to tame the NY Mets, 2-0, at Shea Stadium. Jason Thompson atoned for a game-blowing error the night before with four hits, Dave Parker added three more, including a 450’ homer, and Mike Easler doubled & tripled to drive in a pair of scores. The win kept the Pirates two games behind the Phillies, although a late slide dropped them to six games off the pace when the final gun sounded.

Larry McWilliams - 1983 Donruss

• 1984 - With a crowd of 33,651 Cub fans at Wrigley Field, Chicago passed the 2M mark in attendance for the first time in its history. But Pittsburgh ruined the big day as the Pirates overcame a 6-2 deficit to rally past the Bruins by a 7-6 score. Jim Morrison was the offensive spark plug, hitting a homer, driving in a pair and scoring a pair to lead a balanced Bucco attack. Lee Smith lost to Kent Tekulve with John Candelaria chipping in with the save. 
• 1985 - A federal jury in Pittsburgh convicted Curtis Strong of 11 counts of cocaine distribution after hearing evidence in the “Pittsburgh Coke Trial.” Prominent players who were granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for testimony included Dave Parker‚ Lonnie Smith‚ Keith Hernandez and Tim Raines. Peter Ueberroth, the commissioner, pushed through the beginnings of MLB drug testing because of the trial and its stain on MLB. 
• 1988 - It took Jim Gott one pitch to set the Pirates save record in a 5-1 win over the Cards at Busch Stadium. He came on with Redbirds at second & third with two outs, and Pedro Guerrero bounced Gott's first offering to short to earn his 32nd save, besting Kent Tekulve’s previous team mark (Mark Melancon holds the current record with 51 saves). “I felt cheated” he said of the easy save chance, though it had been a tough battle until the Bucs scored four times in the eighth to break up a 1-1 match between Dave LaPoint and Scott Terry. RJ Reynolds and Andy Van Slyke had two-run singles in the game-winning frame, but it was a cobbled-together small ball rally, with three singles, two Card errors, two bunts and an intentional walk, that won the day. St. Louis had plenty of chances - they had nine hits, drew five walks and swiped five bases, but they stranded a dozen runners. 
• 1988 - IF Steve Lombardozzi Jr. was born in Fulton, Maryland. Then a six year vet, with a couple of seasons of regular time with the Nats, Lombardozzi was purchased by the Pirates in 2015. The jack-of-all-trades played mostly at AAA Indianapolis, but did see some big league time with the Bucs, going 0-for-10. He got a sip of coffee at Miami in 2017 and spent time in AAA; he played indie ball in 2019. Junior is the son of former MLB second baseman Steve Lombardozzi. 
• 1992 - It was a struggle, but the Bucs finally dispatched Philadelphia by a 3-2 tally after 13 innings at TRS. The Phils scored twice on solo homers while the Bucs cashed in on a pair of sac flies. Jeff King brought home the winner when his single off Keith Shepherd plated Cecil Espy to give Roger Mason, the Pirates sixth pitcher, the win. The Phillies blew a couple of opportunities, going 0-for-8 w/RISP. The Bucs trumped them despite 2B Mickey Morandini’s unassisted triple play, the first NL player to pull one off in 65 years. He snagged a line drive off the bat of King, touched second to force Andy Van Slyke, and tagged out Barry Bonds, who was on the move from first base.

Mike Williams- 2001 Topps 50 Years

• 2000 - The Pirates scored three times in the 10th inning thanks to long balls by Emil Brown and Adam Hyzdu, then hung on for dear life in a 7-6 win at Veterans Stadium. With two runs in for the Phils, runners on the corners and one away in the the tenth, Mike Williams got 2B Marlon Anderson to bang into a game saving 4-6-3 DP. 
• 2007 - For the second straight night, Nyjer Morgan led off the game against San Diego with a triple, the first time in five years that feat had been pulled off in the NL. Though he scored both times, the Pirates couldn’t hold either lead and lost 5-3 and 6-3 decisions to the Padres at Petco Park. 
• 2013 - The Bucs started off on fire when Jose Tabata and Neil Walker led off the game with homers for the fourth time in club history, and the Pirates were cruising along when Francisco Liriano K'ed Chris Heisey in the eighth for his 1,000th strikeout, also setting the team record for K's at 1,193, breaking last year's mark. But the 5-2 lead wasn’t enough to hold off the Cincinnati Reds, who scored three unearned runs in the ninth thanks to a two-out error by Jordy Mercer. Cincy won in the 10th on a wrong-way home run by Joey Votto that just dropped over the fence and a few feet inside the LF pole to stun the Bucs at PNC Park 6-5, tying the teams for second place in the NL Central and the home wildcard spot with eight games left.