7/6 From 1990: Fetters-Sanchez; Splashdown; All Star AJ; McClatchy Leaves; Game Stories

• 1992 - If you like pitching, this was your kind of game. Zane Smith and Houston’s Jimmy Jones started in a game that ended up 1-0, with Orlando Merced’s sixth inning homer the only run scored in front of the 15,385 fans at TRS. Smith worked 8-⅓ innings of five hit ball with Stan Belinda coming on to record the final two outs. Belinda inherited Jeff Bagwell at second and walked the first hitter he faced, but got a pair of pops to ice the game.

The Freak Show Cooke-in' with Steve - 1997 Upper Deck Collectors Choice

• 1997 - The Pirate “Freak Show” completed a four game sweep of St. Louis, 6-3, at Busch Stadium to go into the All-Star break with a one-game lead in the NL Central standings after winning seven straight. Steve Cooke won the game backed by Jose Guillen’s first big league homer and four RBI, the first multi-RBI game of his career. 
• 2001 - Pittsburgh put up a five spot in the eighth inning to rally past the White Sox 10-6 at Comiskey Park. Jack Wilson had three hits and John Vander Wal added a homer with two stolen bases to pace the attack. Josias Manzanillo benefitted from the offensive outburst; he was charged with a blown save and then credited with the comeback win. 
• 2002 - Houston's Daryle Ward became the first player to put a baseball in the Allegheny on the fly when he homered off Kip Wells during a 10-2 Astro win. The ball traveled an estimated 465-480'. Ward would join the Pirates a little later, playing for Pittsburgh from 2004-05. 
• 2002 - The Pirates traded RHP Mike Fetters to the Arizona Diamondbacks for RHP Duaner Sanchez in a swap of relievers. Sanchez pitched poorly for the Bucs and was released after the 2003 season, but found success with the Dodgers and Mets until a mid-season car accident in 2006 caused career-wrecking shoulder damage. Fetters was at the end of his road; he pitched one more season and then retired at age 39.  
• 2007 - Kevin McClatchy announced that he would step down as CEO after the 2007 MLB season, resulting in the September hiring of Frank Coonelly, He told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Dejan Kovacevic that “You start to get burned out a little bit...in all honesty, it’s a natural time for a change. It’s the right thing to do for the team and for me.” 

AJ - 2015 Topps All Star Update

• 2015 - AJ Burnett, who was named to the All-Star team a half hour before game time for the first time in his 17th & final season, and James Shields hooked up in an epic pitching duel at PNC Park that was eventually decided by the bullpens. Both starters went into the eighth inning, leaving a 1-1 match for the relievers to decide. Jared Hughes tossed the final 1-⅓ frames for the win after Brandon Mauer gave up a two-out, full-count, pinch single to Pedro Alvarez that scored Andrew McCutchen, who had walked and moved up on Jung-Ho Kang’s single. It was El Toro’s second career walk off hit; the first was back in 2010.