6/2 From 1980: Windy City; Michael's Granny; Big Daddy Clutch; Game Stories; RIP Buster

• 1987 - Rick Reuschel fired a two-hitter against the Atlanta Braves at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, ending a six game Pirate losing streak. Andy Van Slyke’s homer accounted for two Bucco runs, and he made a great catch in the ninth to help save the 4-0 victory. Rafe Belliard scored twice. It was Reuschel’s ninth straight win over Atlanta.
• 1998 - The Pirates beat the Mets 5-2 at TRS behind Chris Peter’s pitching and a bases-loaded triple by Kevin Young for their fourth straight victory, but the big story was that they earned the win in the midst of a tornado. The game was delayed nearly an hour by the gale, but Peters came back after the break in the third frame to work five innings. The Post Gazette noted that a couple of Pirates gathered up hailstones from the dugout before play resumed. The tornado touched down on nearby Mt. Washington and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s banner headline screamed “Torn Asunder.” 

Kevin Young - 1998 Circa Thunder (reverse)

• 2008 - The Bucs beat the Cardinals 5-4 at Busch Stadium. Jason Michaels provided the muscle by blasting a seventh-inning, two-out pinch-hit grand slam on the first pitch he saw from Adam Wainwright. Matt Capps saved the win for Franquelis Osoria. 
• 2011 - Pittsburgh blew a 7-0 advantage to the Mets and lost 9-8 at Citi Field as Paul Maholm couldn’t hold the lead and left with the game tied. Jose Veras then self destructed in the eighth, giving up a hit, four walks and a wild pitch. The Buc wasted a homer and four RBI from Neil Walker and a four-hit day, with a triple, two stolen bases and three runs scored, from Xavier Nady. 
• 2013 - The Reds raced to a 4-0 first inning lead against Jeanmar Gomez and the righty was yanked after the frame with forearm tightness. But the Pirate bullpen put up 10 scoreless frames, allowing just five hits, while Pedro Alvarez and Garrett Jones homered - Jones became the first Pirate to reach the Allegheny on the fly with his 463’ blast - to send the game into extra innings at PNC Park. The Pirates took it in the 11th on Travis Snider’s soft two-out liner that scored Russ Martin from second for a walk-off 5-4 win. 
• 2014 - The Pirates romped at Petco Park, winning 10-3 as the San Diego Padres ran through seven pitchers and 249 pitches during the longest nine-inning game in SD history at 4:04. Of the 53 men Pittsburgh sent to the plate, 26 reached base. They went 9-for-20 with RISP and still stranded 16 men, loading the bases seven different times. San Diego left 11 runners of their own on the pond, and went 1-for-10 with RISP. Jordy Mercer went 4-for-5 with a homer, four RBI and two runs scored, while Josh Harrison and Neil Walker added three hits each. Charlie Morton got the win, but the Pirates had to use three relievers of their own to close out the contest. There were six HBP without a warning being issued and twelve walks combined during the game. It was only the second time during an NL game of the modern (post-1914) era that each team hit three batters in the same game. The other time it happened was Aug. 15th, 2007, when the New York Mets played, natch, the Bucs. 
• 2017 - You wouldn’t expect this kind of game from a Gerrit Cole - Matt Harvey match, but the Bucs and Mets exchanged big innings with the Pirates coming out on top at Citi Field 12-7. The Pirates put up a three spot in the fourth to take the lead on Elias Diaz’s bases-loaded, three-run double. The New York nine answered in the fifth with five runs off Cole to take a 7-4 advantage. The Corsairs then responded with a seven-spot in the sixth off Harvey and reliever Paul Sewald, keyed by Diaz’s three-run homer, his first as a major leaguer, to jump ahead 11-7. Then the storm abated; the only other run to score was on Josh Harrison’s solo shot in the eighth. Josh Bell also went long in the victory, and even with the sketchy start, Cole got the win, making up a bit for some early-season hard-luck losses. Diaz ended up with six RBI, the first six-pack by a Pirates rookie since Andrew McCutchen in 2009. 

Bruce Kison - 1979 Topps

• 2018 - Bruce Kison passed away of cancer at the age of 68. Kison was selected by Pittsburgh in the 14th round of the 1968 amateur draft and made his big league debut on July 4th, 1971. “Buster” was best known for winning Game 4 of the 1971 World Series, the first night game in World Series history, by tossing 6-1/3 scoreless innings of one-hit relief against Baltimore. Kison made more news when he hopped in a helicopter after the Game 7 win at Baltimore to zip home for his wedding, along with best man Bob Moose; a police escort took him from the airport to the church. He was a combative and competitive guy on the mound, once brawling with Mike Schmidt. Bruce spent nine of his 15 MLB years with the Bucs (1971-79; 81-63-6/3.49) and when he retired, he became a minor league pitching instructor for Pittsburgh in 1986, bullpen coach for Kansas City from 1992-93, the Royals pitching coach from 1994-98 and Baltimore's pitching coach in 1999. He then worked as a scout for Baltimore until a few months before his demise.