6/22 From 1960: Fiver For Rennie; 11 For El Coffee; Dovy Debut; Brad Signed; No Deal For Donn; Game Stories; HBD Brant

• 1964 - Beat man Les Biederman of the Pittsburgh Press wrote that the Pirates had a pair of deals in the fire for 1B Donn Clendenon, one with the Braves and another with the Phils. Both clubs wanted Clendenon and a reliever. The Pirates ask from Milwaukee was OF Felipe Alou and from Philadelphia, they wanted RHP Art Mahaffey and another unnamed player. Neither set of talks got close to trigger-pulling time. 

No deals for Donn - 1964 Topps Stand Up

• 1971 - OF/1B Brant Brown was born in Porterville, California. The Bucs swapped Jon Lieber for Brant after he had hit .291/14 HR with the Cubs in 1998, but in 130 Pirates games he hit just .232, although he did swat 16 homers and chase home 58 runs. He was sent to the Padres after the year for Bruce Aven and 2000 was his last big-league season. Since he’s retired, Brown has coached in the Rangers and Mariners minor-league systems and is now a dual assistant hitting coach/minor league hitting coordinator for the Dodgers. 
• 1976 - Rennie Stennett had five hits to help rally the Pirates from a 5-0 deficit to a 10-7 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Richie Zisk & Al Oliver had three knocks each (the team collected 19 raps) while four Bucs had two RBI and eight different Corsairs scored to carry Larry Demery, the middle arm of a five-pitcher parade, to the win. 
• 1993 - Bob Walk spun a three-hitter as the Bucs downed the Cubs 7-2 at TRS. Walkie had the magic touch against Chicago, with the win pushing him to 15-3 lifetime against the Baby Bruins (he finished his career 15-4 against them; this was the 36-year-old’s final campaign). It was his second back-to-back complete game of his 14 year MLB stint. His support came from Jeff King and Al Martin dingers, with Kevin Young banging out four hits. Walk wasn’t particularly impressed by the outing, though. He told Paul Meyer of the Post Gazette that “Everything they hit was right at somebody. They could have easily had 100 hits...” Manager Jim Leyland, for one, was glad that the at’em balls led to an easy night. He had spent the evening before at the hospital as wife Katie presented him with daughter Kellie. 
• 2006 - RHP Brad Lincoln, the Pirates first round draft pick selected out of the U of Houston, signed for a bonus estimated at $2.75M. He was introduced at a Bucco PC and then sent straight to Bradenton to the Rookie League Pirates. The day before, it was announced that Pittsburgh prospects C Neil Walker and LHP Tom Gorzelanny would appear in the Futures Game for the USA during MLB’s All-Star weekend while the number one pick from 2005, Andrew McCutchen, went 1-for-3 in the Sally League All-Star game. More AS news: NL skipper Phil Garner of the Astros selected Bucco bench minder Jim Tracy to his staff, along with Chuck Tanner as an honorary coach, for the PNC Park Midsummer Classic. 
• 2010 - RHP Dovydas Neverauskas saw some mop-up duty for the GCL Pirates during an 11-4 loss to the Yankee rookies, becoming the first born-and-raised Lithuanian to appear in organized baseball. He debuted for the Bucs in 2017. 

Dovy Neverauskas - 2016 Futures Game photo Pirates

• 2011 - At PNC Park, the Pirates reached the magic .500 mark as Kevin Correia picked up his 9th win, 5-4, over the Orioles, with Joel Hanrahan earning his 20th save in 20 opps (he would run up 26 saves before blowing a lead). The big blow was delivered by Josh Harrison, who plated Brandon Wood and Michael McKenry when his fifth-inning, two-out ground ball rolled between the second baseman's legs. The Pirates were fighting to end an 18-year streak of losing seasons, but it wouldn’t be this year (or next). The team was several games over .500 in late July, but by August third, they had dropped below the benchmark and then circled the drain, finishing 72-90.  
• 2014 - Rookie Gregory Polanco’s team-record streak of 11 straight games with a hit to open his career ended at Wrigley Field, but the Bucs still prevailed 2-1. Travis Snider’s home run and Josh Harrison’s two-out single gave Brandon Cumpton just enough breathing room, with Mark Melancon coming on to earn a save. Polanco would continue his on-base streak, which reached 14 games before he finally had a contest without a hit or walk. El Coffee had barely kept his hit streak alive in the prior game, winning a challenge for an infield single that had originally been ruled an out.