5/5 From 1980: Viva Mexico; Stairs Smash; Squeakers & Game Stories

• 1985 - The Pirates beat the Dodgers 3-2 at TRS by using their eyes more than their bats. Joe Orsulak and Johnny Ray drew bases-loaded walks off Tom Niedenfuer in the eighth inning to plate the tying and winning runs. Bill Madlock went 3-for-3 with a walk while Bill Almon and Orsulak had a pair of raps. Rick Rhoden got the win after allowing two runs in eight innings with John Candelaria pitching a clean ninth for the save. 

Rafe Belliard - 1987 Donruss

• 1987 - Behind four long balls, the Bucs defeated the Padres 10-8 at Jack Murphy Stadium. The four-baggers were smacked by Barry Bonds, Andy Van Slyke, RJ Reynolds and surprisingly, Rafael Belliard, his first career shot. Belliard had two hits and three RBI, and wouldn’t hit his second and final MLB homer until a decade later in 1997. 
• 1993 - Jeff King went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs as the Pirates beat the Braves and Cy Young winner Greg Maddux 4-1 at Three Rivers Stadium. King’s two-run double in the sixth gave the Bucs the lead and his eighth inning single chased home the final run. Bob Walk allowed one run in seven innings to pick up the win while Stan Belinda earned the save. 
• 1998 - Feliz Cinco de Mayo! The Pirates defeated St. Louis, 5-2, at Three Rivers Stadium as Francisco Cordova became the first Mexican born Pirate pitcher to start a game on Cinco de Mayo for the Bucs since Vicente Padilla (who didn’t factor in the decision) in 1992. Francisco got the win and his Veracruz amigo Ricardo Rincón picked up a hold. Jermaine Allensworth had a pair of hits and two RBI to go with Jose Guillen’s homer in a game the Bucs led from the first inning onward. 
• 2003 - Matt Stairs homered off Houston’s Wade Miller, launching a blast that was estimated to travel 461’ to become the longest ball hit in the history of Minute Maid Park. It was Pittsburgh’s only bright spot as the ‘Stros mauled Kris Benson on the way to an 8-1 victory. Miller carried a perfect game into the sixth until it was broken up by a one out Pokey Reese single and tossed an eight-inning three hitter. 

Matt Stairs - 2003 Topps Home Team Advantage

• 2019 - Jordan Lyles and Oakland’s Frankie Montas hooked up in a great pitching duel at PNC Park. The Bucs scored in the second inning by manufacturing a run off a Josh Bell two-bagger, ground out, and Colin Moran sac fly. The Pirates missed a sixth-inning golden opportunity, blowing a first-and-third, no-out set up and the A’s then tied it in the seventh with two outs when the eight hitter doubled and former Bucco farmhand Robby Grossman singled him home. Each team’s bullpen kept the zeroes coming through 12 innings without any major uprisings. Tyler Lyons, in the second inning of his Pittsburgh debut, walked the first two batters in the 13th; they both scored and he avoided more damage when a bases loaded, one-out shot up the middle deflected off him to Jung Ho Kang, who stepped on third and threw to first for an inning-ending DP. Fernando Rodney got the first out, then sandwiched a walk between two singles, making it 3-2 with Bucs on the corners. His next pitch was hammered by Starling Marte into the left-center field bullpen, and the Bucs walked off with a 5-3 win in a game that morphed from a pitcher’s delight to a slugfest in the blink of an eye. It was Starling’s fifth walk off long ball, one shy of the franchise mark.