6/27 From 1980: Allensworth, Grilli Deals; Muscle Flexing; Neagle Grannie; 3's A Crowd; Pre-Review; Gems & Game Tales; HBD AJ & Yacksel

• 1988 - The Pirates squeaked by the Mets in front of the largest crowd at TRS in five years, 41,489 (on a Monday night yet!), by a 2-1 score despite losing a tally due to replay two decades before review legally existed. Up by a run after an RBI double by Andy Van Slyke in the fourth and a run-producing rap by Rafael Belliard in the fifth, a wild pitch seemingly brought home an insurance marker. The TRS scoreboard vid showed a replay that caught plate ump Paul Runge’s and Met’s manager Davey Johnson’s eyes. The ball seemed to change direction a bit on the vid, so Johnson came out to beef to Runge. He called together the boys in blue for a conference and they voted that it was a foul ball. Jose Lind, who was the batter Doc Gooden buzzed, said it ticked off his helmet and not his twig, but the umps stuck to their call. Commonplace today, replay review wouldn’t become legit until 2008 (and then just for disputed HRs; the current form began in 2014), and Jim Leyland protested the game. It never made it to the Commish as Mike Dunne, Barry Jones and Jim Gott made the two runs stand up. 
• 1989 - RHP AJ Schugel was born in Winter Haven, Florida. A waiver claim by the Bucs, he got into 36 games for Pittsburgh in 2016, going 2-2-1/3.63 as a long man in the pen with a nice 1.038 WHIP. He started 2017 at AAA Indy with a brief Pittsburgh stop in June and more permanent residence in August, but spent 2018 on the DL. He opted for free agency after the season and is in the Mets system now. 

AJ Schugel - 2017 photo/Pirates.

• 1991 - The Bucs solved rookie Frank Castillo in the ninth (he was making his MLB debut), turning a 3-0 deficit to the Cubs into a 4-3 win at TRS. Castillo and two relievers gave up four singles, two walks, and a two-out wild pitch that allowed Barry Bonds to score from third with the walk-off game winner. Bob Walk took home the win with Bill Landrum earning the save. 
• 1993 - It took a couple of comebacks, but the Bucs rallied past the Phils 4-3 in 10 innings at TRS in front of 27,824. Down 2-1 in the eighth, Jeff King banged a two-out single to plate Carlos Garcia with the game-tying run. Stan Belinda gave up a score in the 10th, but the Pirates got him off the hook quickly when the first batter, Don Slaught, took a 3-2 Mitch Williams delivery and tucked it just inside the left field screen and into the seats to knot the score. Jay Bell singled, then a bunt and a pair of walks later (one intentional, one not) set up King again, whose knock brought the Pirates all the way back. Zane Smith had started the game against Uniontown’s Terry Mulholland; Garcia had four hits and scored twice during the day to lead the attack. 
• 1993 - RHP Yacksel Rios was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico. A 2012 draftee of the Phils, he yo-yo’ed between them and AAA Lehigh from 2017-19. He was DFA’ed in July of ‘19, claimed by the Pirates, assigned to Indy and called up in September. Yacksel featured a 96 MPH heater, and the Bucs were hoping a change of scenery would help straighten out his control issues after he went 1-0/5.23 with a K per frame but five walks and two bopped batters in 10 IP. It didn't help here; here's now with the Bosox. 
• 1995 - Denny Neagle helped himself to his ninth victory by belting a grand slam off Jim Bullinger, the key blow in a 6-5 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Neagle became the first Pirate pitcher to hit a slam since Don Robinson on September 12th, 1985 and just one of five to smack one in franchise history. Not known as a strong batsman, Neagle told Ben Walker of the Associated Press "Something must have been in the coffee." Paul Wagner got a hold and Dan Plesac the save for Neagle. 

Denny Neagle - 1995 Skybox E-Motion (reverse)

• 1998- Pittsburgh traded OF Jermaine Allensworth, a 1993 first round draft pick, to the Kansas City Royals for 21-year-old minor league pitcher Manuel Bernal. It didn’t move either team’s needle very much. Allensworth’s last MLB year was 1999, and he left organized ball in 2008 after a long career on the farm and indie leagues. The righty Bernal never joined the Pirates, but remained in his native Mexico, tossing south of the border through 2009. 
• 1998 - Ishmael Valdez was one batter shy of throwing a perfecto against the Bucs at Dodger Stadium, giving up a leadoff eighth-inning single to Kevin Young. Valdez struck out seven and used just 97 pitches to tame Pittsburgh, 2-0. Francisco Cordova was the hard-luck loser, a victim of temporary loss of control when with two outs and a runner on third in the sixth, an intentional walk was followed by an unintentional pass to set up Raul Mondesi’s two-run single. 
• 2004 - Jason Bay, Jack Wilson and Craig Wilson combined to go 9-for-16 with three walks, three doubles, a triple and homer to score seven runs and drive in seven more as the Bucs romped over the Reds 14-4 at GABP. Josh Fogg got the win. 
• 2014 - Two youngsters, the Bucs’ Brandon Cumpton and the Mets’ Jacob deGrom, pitched strong games and then turned the contest over to the bullpens as the Pirates outlasted NY 3-2 in 11 innings at PNC Park. Pittsburgh was clutch; Jordy Mercer singled in a pair of runs with two outs in the fourth after Pedro Alvarez was worked around and walked, then Josh Harrison chased home Clint Barmes with the game winner with a two-out double to right center; both RBI knocks came on the first pitch. Jared Hughes picked up the win. 
• 2014 - In a change of scenery deal, the Pirates and Angels traded struggling closers, with Pittsburgh sending Jason Grilli to LA for Ernesto Frieri. Both had lost their closing gigs in 2014 after being the shut-down guy in 2013, and both moved around since and are currently free agents. 

Jason Grilli - 2014 Topps Gypsy Queen

• 2018 - Zach Wheeler put up seven zeros against the Bucs at Citi Field in a battle with Ivan Nova and left the bullpen a 3-0 lead; it wasn’t enough. The Pirates plated once in the eighth and then put up a four-spot against closer Jeurys Familia in the ninth to rally for a 5-3 win over the Mets. The Corsairs went small ball to win with five singles, a walk and sac fly doing the final frame damage. Felipe Vazquez worked two innings of one-hit, two-whiff ball to claim the victory. 
• 2019 - The Pirates swatted five homers on the way to a 10-0 win over the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park after having won the prior game 14-2 with four bombs (two off 1B Tyler White, used by the ‘Stros as a ninth-inning mop-up guy). Former Astro Joe Musgrove tossed six innings of shutout ball, and another old Houstonian, Michael Feliz, tossed a 1-2-3 inning of relief. Kevin Newman and Jake Stallings each had three hits, including a homer. Starling Marte, Josh Bell and Corey Dickerson also went deep. Every Pirate but one had a rap (and he walked), while seven Buccos scored and six had RBI (six had both) in a balanced offensive effort. The Pirates became the first team ever to win back-to-back interleague games by 10+ runs (although the Yankees turned that trick in 1960 during the WS, ironically against the Bucs, with 16-3 and 10-0 wins in games 2 & 3). They also became just the fourth NL team since 1900 to hit four or more homers with four or more doubles in consecutive games. As a bonus, they were the first squad in 13 tries to win a series in Houston during the ‘19 campaign.