7/27 From 1990: Back To the Future; Two Bad Tony; Fort-itude; Game Stories

• 1991 - Jay Bell had the first two-homer game of his career, going 4-for-5 with four RBI and four runs scored in Pittsburgh’s 11-5 win at Houston’s Astrodome. Bell hit a one-out homer in the first off Jimmy Jones, then a three-run shot in the sixth inning off Jim Corsi to extend the Bucs’ lead to 11-0. Barry Bonds added three RBI and scored twice as Randy Tomlin picked up the win. 

Jay Bell muscles up - Donruss 1991 Diamond Kings

• 1998 - 2B Tony Womack set a record of 888 consecutive at-bats without grounding into a double play in an 8-7, 13-inning loss to the Rox at Coors Field. The previous record had been held by Brooklyn's Pete Reiser, set in the mid-forties. Tony eventually went 219 straight games and 915 at-bats without hitting into a twin killing. Jose Guillen had four hits & a homer (he also made one of the great throws in Pirates history, gunning a ball from the warning track in right on the fly to 3B Keith Osik to hose Neifi Perez by five feet) while Kevin Young also went long with three RBI in the defeat. 
• 1999 - In one of baseball’s weirder promotions, the Pirates defeated the Mets‚ 5-1‚ in the first of MLB's "Turn Ahead the Clock Nights," sponsored by Century 21 Real Estate. Each team wore futuristic uniforms (the Bucs had red jerseys with yellow sleeves and a giant Bucco head logo), with the hometown squad becoming the "Mercury" Mets for the night. The pregame welcome was “Greetings, earthlings. Welcome to Shea Station 4C. Blastoff time is 7:40.” The theme was carried on throughout the evening‚ with the scoreboard flashing computerized graphics of the players of the future as each came to the plate. Rickey Henderson‚ for example‚ was given three eyes and pointy ears‚ and played "left quadrant." Al Martin hit the first of his two HRs in the first "sector‚" and rookie Kris Benson went all nine sectors for the win. 
• 2009 - In an otherwise unremarkable 4-2 loss to Tim Lincecum at AT&T Park, Delwyn Young added a little spice to the show. Randy Winn’s bloop into right went off right fielder Garrett Jones’ mitt, then off his knee, and he kicked it into the air with his foot for good measure. Young, playing second, dove after the horsehide hacky-sack and made a lunging barehanded grab. Alas, the ump blew the call and gave Winn a hit, which was pretty much how the Pirates’ luck ran back then. Nevertheless, Tribune Review writer Joe Starkey called the catch the “best play of the decade.” 
• 2013 - Mike McKenry showed why MLB catchers are a different breed of cat. He caught the final three frames of a 7-4 win against Miami at Marlins Park after tearing the lateral meniscus in his left knee during a slide, an injury that required season-ending surgery three days later. It was hard to tell, as the reserve catcher, who soldiered through the game because starting catcher Russell Martin had tweaked his knee the previous night, went 4-for-5. The Fort was the battery mate of Charlie Morton, who took home the win with a save by Mark Melancon. 
• 2016 - It took 88 outings, but Gerrit Cole tossed his first complete game, spinning a three-hitter against the Seattle Mariners at PNC Park on the way to a 10-1 Bucco romp. The top of the order was smoking as Jordy Mercer & Andrew McCutchen had three hits while Starling Marte & David Freese added a pair. The foursome went 10-for-17 with four doubles, a homer, two walks and HBP, scoring eight times and chasing home six. And the fifth guy in the order, Jung Ho Kang added a base-loaded double and had four RBI on the night. Ross Ohlendorf, btw, reclaimed the franchise’s title for going the longest without a CG at 64 starts. 

Gerrit goes the distance - 2016 photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates

• 2018 - The Bucs had dropped two in a row, coinciding with injuries to Starling Marte and Corey Dickerson, and things looked bleak when Michael Conforto lit up Ivan Nova for a three-run, first-inning homer at PNC Park to give the Mets a quick lead. An inning later, Josh Bell left the game with an oblique injury, but veteran platoon guy David Freese carried the team through the grind to a 5-4 victory. He was aboard five times with three hits, including a homer, & two walks and drove home all five runs, the last a ninth-inning, walk off, rap. The Bucco bullpen carried its weight, too, minimizing a jam Nova had left and tossing four innings of scoreless, three-hit ball with five whiffs. Edgar Santana and Kyle Crick held the fort before Felipe Vazquez tossed the ninth for the win.