5/9 From 1990: The Kid's Triple Banger; Rally Caps & Game Stories

• 1993 - For the second consecutive time, the Pirates were down by a run with two outs in the ninth and the bases empty against Montreal with closer John Wetteland on the hill at TRS, and for the second consecutive time, they pulled a victory out of that hat. Andy Van Slyke homered in yesterday’s match, then Tom Foley’s single won it in 10 frames by a 10-9 count. Orlando Merced and Carlos Garcia also went long while Stan Belinda got the W. Today, it was Al Martin who went downtown to knot the score and AVS was clutch again, banging a two-out double in the 11th to give the Bucs and Blas Minor a 6-5 victory. The two wins made the Pirates 5-1 in extra innings, but in the first year of their core deconstruction, they sputtered and finished the campaign with just 75 wins and in fifth place in the NL. 

Andy Van Slyke - 1993 Leaf (reverse)

• 1997 - Prior to the game with Atlanta‚ Pirate players had an impromptu meet-and-greet inside the TRS gates to shake hands and pose for pictures with the fans. The up close and personal vibes worked as they proceeded to beat the Braves 9-0 behind Francisco Cordova. Jose Guillen homered and drove in three runs while Al Martin added three knocks. 
• 1999 - Two of Pittsburgh’s bigger disappointments showed what coulda been. The Pirates beat the Cards‚ 12-9, behind SS Pat Meares’ five hits and OF Brant Brown’s three-run, inside-the-park homer at Busch Stadium. Meares ended up on the DL for most of his Pittsburgh stay and never played after 2001, while Brown hit .232, with 2000 being his MLB swan song. Jose Silva was spanked as a starter, but Chris Peters, who got the win, Marc Wilkins, Jeff Wallace, Brad Clontz and Mike Williams, who earned a save, cleaned it up behind him. 
• 2011 - The Pirates beat the Dodgers, 4-1, at PNC Park, to move their record to 18-17, the first time they were above .500 this late in the season since 2004. With the score tied in the eighth, Jose Tabata made a diving catch in left, then doubled a Dodger off first. Jose Uribe and manager Don Mattingly were bounced for arguing that the ball was trapped (and TV replays seemed to agree with them), but the Bucs made it moot by putting up a three-spot in their half with back-to-back-to-back doubles by Neil Walker, Lyle Overbay and Ryan Doumit. Jose Veras got the win in relief of Jeff Karstens with Joel Hanrahan notching the save. 
• 2015 - Neil Walker began and ended the first 4-5-4 triple play in MLB history. He leapt to snag Yadier Molina’s bases-loaded liner and threw to third, doubling off the lead runner. Jung Ho Kang at the hot corner apparently lost track of the outs; he started toward the dugout before a little prompting from his mates got him to toss the ball back to Neil, standing on second, to complete the trifecta. It was a game full of big innings; the Bucs scored three in the second inning, then the Cards answered with a five spot in the fourth frame before Pittsburgh put up another trio of runs in the sixth to take a 7-5 win at PNC Park. The Pittsburgh Kid added a homer while Jordy Mercer chased home three runs to earn Rob Scahill, the first of four Pirate relievers to toss a scoreless frame, the win. 

Neil Walker - 2015 Elite 21st Century

• 2018 - For the second straight game, the Bucs spotted the Chicago White Sox a four run lead at Guaranteed Rate Stadium and came back to claim the win. The Sox jumped on top 4-0 against Trevor Williams and held on to a 5-2 edge going into the ninth. Elias Diaz made it a one-run game when he chased home two runs with a double off Nate Jones and two pitches later, Colin Moran dropped a shot into the right center field stands to give the Bucs the improbable win. Rich Rodriguez earned his first MLB win and Felipe Vazquez picked up the save with Steven Brault adding two scoreless innings to the pot. Jordy Mercer and Gregory Polanco had solo shots to put the Pirates on the board.