1945 - The Pirates hit two homers (Babe Dahlgren, Pete Coscarart), two triples (Lee Handley, Jim Russell) and two doubles (Tommy O’Brien, Johnny Barrett) to romp over the Brooklyn Dodgers 11-1 at Ebbets Field. The Bucs scored three times in the first inning and five more times in the ninth while Preacher Roe scattered eight hits. O’Brien and Frankie Gustine led the lumber parade with three hits each; Dahlgren and Coscarart homered. Da Bums had two noteworthy sidebars: they committed seven errors during the game, and 17-year-old Dodger SS Tommy Brown became the youngest player to hit a major league home run.
1946 - The Pirates voted against recognizing the American Baseball Guild as their bargaining agent by a 15-3 count with 10 abstentions in a pregame Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board election. They then blanked the Brooklyn Dodgers 10-0 at Forbes Field behind Nick Strincevich’s four-hitter. Elbie Fletcher banged a three-run homer and Jim Russell had three hits that chased four Buccos home.
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| Jim Russell - 1945/47 Steven Russell/Wikipedia |
1947 - It wasn’t a very good day for pitchers as Pittsburgh bludgeoned its way to a 16-10 win over Boston at Braves Stadium. 19 players banged out 34 hits. The leader of the pack was the Pirates’ Jim Russell, who went 5-for-6 with a double and triple, five RBI and three runs scored. Jimmy Bloodworth wasn’t far behind, going 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs. It wasn’t all on the hurlers; the teams combined to commit six errors, allowing 10 unearned runs to score.
1953 - The Pirates used four Philadelphia Phillies errors to beat Robin Roberts 5-2 at Connie Mack Stadium, ending his 15-game winning streak against them. The winner was 19-year-old Jim Waugh, who tossed a six-hitter. Four of the Bucco runs were unearned.
1961 - The Cubs and Pirates tied an NL record by playing their third straight extra-inning game at Wrigley Field. Chicago took this one 1-0 when Billy Williams singled home the winning run with two outs in the 11th, making Bob Friend a loser to Don Cardwell. The clubs had split the first pair; all three games went 11 innings.
1969 - Bob Veale tossed a four-hitter with one walk and 10 Ks to defeat the Houston Astros and Denny Lemaster 1-0 at Forbes Field. The big lefty allowed just one runner beyond first during the contest. The match’s only run scored in the eighth, when back-to-back Astro errors and a successful bunt set the table for Roberto Clemente’s game-winning sac fly.
1975 - Manager Danny Murtaugh’s 1,000th win (he finished with 1,115, all with the Buccos) was in the books after a 3-1 victory over the Giants at TRS. He became the second Pittsburgh skipper to reach that milestone, after Fred Clarke. The Pirates scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on Craig Reynold’s double and a two-run knock by Rennie Stennett. Jim Rooker pitched eight innings of three-hit ball to earn the win with Dave Giusti closing it out.
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| Danny Murtaugh - 1975 SSPC |
1978 - The Pirates defeated the Astros in a TRS twin bill by 7-6 and 3-1 scores. The two wins gave the Bucs a six-game sweep of the series (they made up two June dates that had been rained out) and was part of a 10-in-a-row streak that would take them from 9-1/2 games back in the division race to 3-1/2. The opener was sloppy; the Pirates committed three errors, opening the gates for three unearned runs, but homers by Willie Stargell and Dale Berra (his first MLB long ball) along with 14 hits (Frank Taveras had four raps and Stargell three) carried the day. Jim Rooker got the win with a Kent Tekulve save. Jerry Reuss went the distance in the second game, backed by a pair of Ed Ott homers. It was Reuss’ first win of the year in his ninth start; he had been largely ineffective and given a bullpen role for much of the summer. It was also the first time a team had swept a six game series (or even played one, per the Pittsburgh Press) in the modern era.
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