6/12 From 2000: Win #10,000; Groat Day; RISP Revel; Game Stories; Draft - Shane

• 2000 - Kevin Young was off to a hot start and so were the Bucs - KY doubled in the first, homered in the second and had six RBI after two innings as the Pirates piled up an 8-3 lead over the Braves at TRS. But Atlanta didn’t mail it in; they cut the margin to 8-6 after five frames. Then the Bravos scored twice in the eighth and twice more in the ninth to hand Jason Christiansen his sixth straight loss by a 10-8 count. It provided a good measuring stick for the season - Atlanta won the Eastern Division with 95 victories; the Pirates came in last in the Central Division with 93 losses.

 

KY - 2000 Upper Deck

• 2001 - The Pirates put up nine runs in the fourth inning to run away with a 13-3 win over the Tigers at Comerica Park. Abraham Nunez had a bases-loaded triple, Rob Mackowiak banged a two-run homer and John Vander Wal added a two-run single in the big frame. Brian Giles homered and doubled for four RBI to match Nunez’s game total as the Bucs hammered seven extra-base hits. 
• 2013 - The Pirates/Alleghenys collected their 10,000th franchise win when they beat the Giants 12-8 at PNC Park. 236 wins were collected as the Alleghenys of the American Association and 9,764 W were notched in the NL (which are the only ones the team officially recognizes). The top of the Pirate order (Starling Marte - Jordy Mercer - Andrew McCutchen - Gaby Sanchez) propelled the win against SF, going 13-for-19 and scoring eight runs while driving in four. It marked the fourth time in the last 59 seasons that the top four hitters in the Bucs starting lineup each had at least three hits (it last happening in 2004), and Marte became the first Pirates leadoff hitter since 1916 with a four-hit, four-run, two-steal day. 
• 2015 - The Pirates took 13 innings, along with an 86 minute rain delay, to defeat the Phils 1-0 at PNC Park. Despite the score, it wasn’t much of a pitching duel, actually - the teams were a combined 1-for-19 with RISP and stranded 30 runners; the Phils had at least two men aboard in six of the innings and the Bucs in five. Both sides used seven pitchers, with Antonio Bastardo getting his first Pirate win thanks to Starling Marte’s walk-off single that scored Chris Stewart.
• 2017 - The Pirates drafted Texas prep RHP Shane Baz first (#12, $4.1M) of Concordia Lutheran HS in the draft. They raided the high schools on the first day, also selecting RHP Steven Jennings (#42 - $1.9M/DeKalb HS, Tennessee), OF Calvin Mitchell (#50 - $1,357,300/Rancho Bernardo HS, California) and OF Conner Uselton (#72 - $804K/Southmoore HS, Oklahoma). Baz was later traded to Tampa Bay as part of the Chris Archer deal while Uselton was released in 2020 after batting.234 in two Rookie League campaigns. 

Shane, we hardly knew ye - Bowman Chrome First Card

• 2018 - The City of Pittsburgh declared “Dick Groat Day.” They held a ceremony for the Swissvale HS/Duke multi-sports star in Council Chambers and presented him with a resolution that, in part, reads that he “may be the greatest athlete to come out of Pittsburgh.” Groat was a five-time MLB All-Star who played nine seasons with the Pirates and the NL-MVP in 1960. He batted .290 during nine seasons with the Pirates and as a college ballplayer, led Duke to the College World Series as a senior. Dick also played for the NBA's Fort Wayne Pistons in 1952, was the Helms National Player of the Year in 1951 as a Blue Devil and is in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.