7/1 From 1960: J-Bell, Orlando, Woody, Roberto Have Days; 2020 Weirdness; Young Guns; Speed Kills; Gems & Game Tales

• 1960 - Speed kills, and the Bucs proved it to LA at Forbes Field when they raced to a 4-3, 10-inning victory in front of 27,312 fans. In the extra frame, Joe Christopher was on second with two outs and the Pirates down 3-2. Roberto Clemente rolled one to SS Maury Wills and it hung up in his webbing for just a tick, but that was enough to allow the Great One to beat the throw by a whisker. Meanwhile, Christopher kept flying around the bases and slid in just ahead of Gil Hodges' toss to home to tie the game. C Johnny Roseboro jawed at ump Al Barlick, but the man in blue stuck to his call that Roseboro had missed the tag. Dick Stuart then blooped a single into short right and Frank Howard was a bit leisurely getting to the Texas Leaguer. Roberto, like Joe before him, had the pedal to the metal and the surprised Howard, seeing Clemente dashing plateward, gunned his throw up the third base line allowing Arriba to score standing up. In the clubhouse, Clemente said “My foot was sore...I didn’t want to play any more and I tried to end the game.” Mission accomplished, Roberto. Gino Cimoli drove home two runs in regulation while Fred Green earned the win in relief of Vern Law. 
• 1966 - Rookie Woodie Fryman one-hit the Mets at Shea Stadium on the way to a 12-0 win. Fryman faced the minimum 27 batters and came within a gnat’s eyelash of perfection. Ron Hunt, who led off the game with a single, was caught stealing by C Jim Pagliaroni and Fryman mowed down the next 26 NY hitters. Jose Pagan chipped in with three runs scored, four RBI and one of the Pirates’ four homers. 

Woody Fryman - 1966 promo East Hills SC

• 1972 - Roberto Clemente’s seventh-inning homer helped the Bucs rally to take a 2-1 lead over the Cubs at TRS. After the Cubbies answered with a pair of their own to regain their edge 3-2, Clemente homered again in the ninth with Milt May aboard for a walk-off 4-3 win. Both homers came off Fergie Jenkins, who lost to Dave Giusti in relief of Bob Moose. 
• 1978 - It was a pitcher’s duel between Jim Rooker and the Mets’ Kevin Kobel at TRS. With the score 0-0 in the bottom of the eighth, Skip Lockwood took the ball for NY. An infield knock by Manny Sanguillen and two-out walk to Duffy Dyer set up Willie Stargell, who lined a single over second to chase home the Road Runner with the game winner. Rooker got the win and Kent Tekulve came in for the save. The two combined for a four-hitter to post the 1-0 victory. 
• 1990 - LHP John Smiley came off the DL after breaking his hand in mid-May and was still rusty, giving up five runs in four innings against the Giants at Candlestick Park, but his teammates picked him up with homers from Barry Bonds, Jeff King, Sid Bream and Jay Bell (three of the blasts were two-run shots) as Pittsburgh rode the longball barrage to a 9-5 win and stayed a game up in the NL East standings. It was the first time the Pirates had gone long four times in a game since April. 
• 1992 - Zane Smith tossed a 97-pitch, five-hit, complete-game gem in a 1-0 victory over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, walking one and fanning one (the last batter). St. Louis’ Mark Clark was the tough-luck loser, giving up four knocks in eight frames. It was the Bucs second straight shutout of the Redbirds, the only time during the campaign that Pittsburgh hurlers would put up consecutive zeros. The pitching for both teams was brilliant; the Pirates won the well-tossed series two games to one, outscoring the Cards by just four-runs-to-three. Gary Varsho’s single in the fourth plated Andy Van Slyke, who had opened the frame with a double, for the game’s only tally. Back in the day when “pace of game” wasn’t a thing, the contest took just two hours and four minutes from opening pitch to the final out. 

Zane tossed a Maddux before it was a thing - 1992 Score 

• 1996 - Do-it-all Orlando: During a 4-1 win over Chicago at TRS, RF Orlando Merced pulled off an unassisted DP, catching Mark Grace's liner and then beating Scott Bullett to 1B. He also started another DP, gloving a short pop and catching Doug Glanville off second with his throw to Jay Bell. Merced added a pair of hits, two RBI and a run scored to help Danny Darwin pick up the win. 
• 2006 - The Pirates and sponsoring PNC Bank took trinkets to a new level with the “Young Guns - Doumit, Duke and Duffy” (Ryan Doumit, Zach Duke, and Chris Duffy) triple bobblehead giveaway. 37,111 fans flooded PNC Park (playing the Detroit Tigers, whose fans travel well, on a Saturday night helped the draw, too) to get theirs as the Bucs won 9-2. Jose Bautista and Sean Casey each had three hits and Matt Capps got the win in relief of Tom Gorzelanny. One bummer: manager Jim Tracy must have missed the memo as none of the “Young Guns” played. 
• 2014 - Down 2-0 in the ninth and held to just two hits over eight innings by Arizona’s Wade Miley, the Bucs made up for lost time in the ninth at PNC Park. Neil Walker opened with a single to center, then pinch hitter Gregory Polanco dumped a knock to left. With an out, Starling Marte chased a pair of sliders away, then reliever Addison Reed hung one over the plate and Marte bombed it for a two-run double off the center field wall. He scooted to third when SS Nick Ahmed's throw to the plate got away, then Andrew McCutchen was walked intentionally. Ike Davis hit for Gaby Sanchez and dropped a broken bat jam shot into right to plate Marte as the Bucs rallied to take an improbable 3-2 victory. Ernesto Frieri picked up his first win as a Bucco after tossing a scoreless ninth, with his bacon being saved by Josh Harrison, who threw out a runner at home from short right field. 
• 2015 - The Buccos flexed their muscles against the Tigers at Comerica Field in a 9-3 win. The Bucs banged out 21 hits, their most since 2004, and drilled four homers. Two were by Neil Walker, and three were hit in one frame by Walker, Starling Marte and Pedro Alvarez. Every Pirate starter had a knock and seven had multi-hit nights against Detroit, led by The Pittsburgh Kid and Marte with four each while Gregory Polanco added three more. AJ Burnett coasted to his seventh victory. 

Josh Bell - 7/1/2019 Topps Now

• 2019 - The Pirates put on a fireworks show a couple of days early by bashing the Chicago Cubs 18-5 at PNC Park. Josh Bell, recently announced as a Home Run Derby contestant at the ASG, vouched for the decision by banging three homers, the first Bucco lefty since Wille Stargell against the Bravos in 1971 to loft three big flies, to bring his mid-season total to 25 dingers. He also added a personal best seven RBI. Adam Frazier had five hits, including four doubles, to tie an MLB record held by several; he’s the only Pirates player beside Paul Waner to accomplish that feat. Also drilling the ball all over the yard was Colin Moran, who also had five hits, including a pair of two-baggers. The Pirates collected 23 hits, the most ever by them against the Cubs, to allow Trevor Williams to claim a win on a day when he didn’t have his best stuff. It helped that the Bucs set season-high marks in runs (18), hits (23), doubles (seven) and homers (five). 
• 2020 - The Pirates reported to Spring Training 2.0 at PNC Park for a proposed starting date of July 24th, with a 40-man roster to prepare for the coronavirus-shortened season, with 20 more top farmhands working out at PNG Park in Altoona (formal workouts began on the 3rd). And that was the Pittsburgh organization for the year; the minor league season was canceled, though the Bucs, like most of MLB, paid the farm hands under contract but without a team to play for a stipend of $400/week through July 31st. Spring training and the season had been on hold since March 24th before the league implemented the new timeline after weeks of toying with the Player’s Association.