- 1983 - 1B/OF John Jaso was born in Chula Vista, CA. The Bucs signed the 32-year-old to a two-year, $8M deal after Jaso hit .286 and produced a .380 OBP/.839 OPS in 70 games with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2015. JJ was primarily a catcher and DH in the show until the 2015 campaign, when concussion issues necessitated a switch of positions. He was converted by Pittsburgh to a full-time first baseman to replace Pedro Alvarez after Petey was non-tendered. JJ adjusted to the field, pinch-hitting and playing 1B/OF off the bench. Jaso hit .245 in 258 Pirates games with 18 HR and retired after the 2017 campaign.
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| John Jaso - 2016 Topps Heritage |
- 1983 - C Robinzon Diaz was born in Monte Plata, Dominican Republic. He was the return for the Jose Bautista swap with Toronto in a deal that Neil Huntington would no doubt like to claim a mulligan. Diaz played briefly in 2008-09 for Pittsburgh, hitting .289 in 43 games but he couldn’t beat out Jason Jamarillo for the back-up spot due to defensive shortcomings. After bouncing around in AAA, he took a gig in the Mexican League.
- 1987 - Ralph Kiner’s #4 was retired. The Mets won the game at TRS, 5-4, in front of 20,933 fans in a match that he announced on WOR-TV. The slugger was a Hall-of-Famer, and in his eight years as a Buc, he hit .280 with 301 HR and 801 RBI. “Mr. Slug” set the team record for homers in 1949 with 54 and hit 40+ long balls for five straight seasons.
- 1990 - Doug Drabek won his 20th game while Bobby Bonds hit his 30th and 31st HRs as Pittsburgh beat Chicago 8-7 at Wrigley Field. Bonds and his dad became the first father-son members of the 30/30 club. Two days later, Bonds swiped his 50th base of the season to become the second MLB player to join the 30/50 club, joining the Reds’ Eric Davis.
- 1991 - In a finish that defied the odds, the Pirates walked off a 5-1 win over the Cards at TRS thanks to a two-out grand slam by...Curtis Wilkerson, the only grand salami of his career. Wilky was batting .185, hadn’t homered since April of 1989 and was facing Lee Smith, one of the league’s premier closers who had already collected 41 saves on the season. Of course, he lined Smith’s first pitch heater into the right field seats. To make the odds a little steeper, St. Louis had been 37-0 when leading after eight innings, and went into the ninth with a 1-0 lead. A much more likely hero, Barry Bonds, tied the game on a first-and-third force, followed by a walk, to set up Wilkerson. With a deep September bench, Jim Leyland opted to bypass several stronger bats to give Curtis his chance (having an 11-1/2 game divisional lead probably played into his decision, too) and as the skipper told scribe Gene Collier after the game “I was never accused of being too smart.” He sure seemed like Einstein on this night.
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| Curtis granny - 9/20/1991 Press/Bill Wade |
- 1993 - A Buc rally fell short as the Cards prevailed, 7-6, at Busch Stadium. Dave Clark swatted a two-run, pinch hit homer in the ninth to give the Bucs a 6-5 lead, but Mark Dewey surrendered the game after two outs with a walk (the second of the inning; the other was charged to Denny Neagle) and a double just inside the line by Mark Whiten that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Carlos Garcia and Jeff King each had three hits in the heartbreaker. Clark’s homer would be the last for another decade to give the Bucs the lead in the ninth after trailing going in until Rob Mackowiak’s blast defeated the Reds in 2003.
- 1996 - With Jim Leyland all but gone to the Florida Marlins, the Pirates media began speculating on his successor. The early frontrunners were favorite Terry Francona, Art Howe, Gene LaMont, Bruce Benedict and Grady Little. The ultimate winner was the in-house candidate, Gene LaMont, who lasted from 1997-2000, posting a 295-352, .456 record as Buc skipper and already broken into the job after four years as the Chicago White Sox manager (1992-95).
- 1997 - The Pirates held a Roberto Clemente commemoration night, unveiling a video of his career highlights followed by his widow Vera tossing out the first pitch at TRS before playing the Cards. The team handed out magnets, but despite the vid and Vera, they still lost 6-5.
- 1998 - Jose Guillen homered and doubled to drive in five runs while Francisco Cordova scattered eight hits over eight innings (Rick Loiselle mopped up) for a 7-1 win over Houston at TRS. Turner Ward also went deep and Jason Kendall & Adrian Brown added two knocks each. The victory ended a seven-game losing streak to the Astros, whose pitching had dominated the Bucs during the season.
- 2000 - The Pirates rode a nine-run sixth inning to a 12-8 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium. The Bucs sent 13 batters to the plate, with the big hits being a two-run knock by Emil Brown and a bases-loaded double by John Wehner. The Phils made a game of it in the ninth, scoring three runs off Scott Sauerbeck before Mike Williams came on to end it.
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| Jason Bay - Pgh Heroes deck |
- 2003 - Jason Bay drove in eight runs (the franchise single game record is nine, set by Johnny Rizzo in 1939; Ralph Kiner was the last to chase home eight Buccos in 1950) during a 10-9 loss to the Cubs, hitting a pair of homers (one a grand slam) and a double in the first game of a DH split at PNC Park. It was a tale of two games; Chicago scored the final run in the top of the sixth and there was just one more hit between both clubs over the final 3-½ innings. The Buc bats stayed hot in a 10-6 response win, with Matt Stairs going long and five different Pirates collecting a pair of hits to give Salomon Torres the win.
- 2005 - Ian Snell pitched eight innings to earn his first MLB win as he beat Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros, 7–0, at PNC Park. Snell allowed just three hits, retiring the final nine batters he faced before José Mesa closed out the four-hit shutout in the ninth. Four different Pirates - Tike Redman, Jason Bay, Jack Wilson & Freddy Sanchez - had three hits, and every Buc starter except JJ Furmaniak had a hit and scored/drove in a run (or both). Though a loss, the game checked off another notch on Clemens’ bucket list - he had now pitched in every major league ballpark currently in operation.
- 2014 - The Pirates were dueling with the Milwaukee Brewers for the last wild card spot and losing late, 2-0, at PNC Park, unable to dent long time nemesis Yovani Gallardo. Jonathan Broxton came on in the eighth, and after giving up singles to Starling Marte and Neil Walker, watched Russ Martin launch a ball into the right center field seats to give the Bucs a 3-2 lead, with the electrified sellout crowd of 37,974 fans demanding a curtain call. Ike Davis singled in an insurance run as John Holdzkom earned his first MLB win after a strong start by Jeff Locke, with Mark Melancon nailing down his 31st save. It also marked the 21st time that the Pirates won a game during their last at-bat that season.
- 2015 - Francisco Liriano and the Pirates beat LA ace Clayton Kershaw at Dodger Stadium, 3-2, to snap a four-game losing streak. Frankie K’ed nine and retired 16 straight batters during one stretch; Tony Watson and Mark Melancon finished up the game, with Mark the Shark recording a club record-setting 47th save. Andrew McCutchen and Aramis Ramirez provided the offense with doubles; Cutch’s two-bagger drove in a pair while A-Ram’s chased home the game-winner. The Pirates couldn’t quite catch the Cards in the NL Central race, falling two games short, but did win 98 games and finished as the top wild card team in the NL.
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| Frankie - 2015 Topps Museum Collection |
- 2018 - In a squeak-by series, the Bucs completed a sweep of the sad-sack Kansas City Royals (this game was KC’s 100th loss) by taking the nightcap of a twin bill by a 2-1 score at PNC Park. They won the opener, 7-6, on a two-out, ninth-inning walkoff hit by Jacob Stallings, the Bucs third-string catcher and a September call up from AAA Indianapolis. Then they captured the middle game, 2-1, in 11 innings on a walkoff single by Ryan Lavarnway, the fourth-string catcher and also a September call up from Indy, after a blown save by Felipe Vazquez, his first after converting 24 straight save opportunities. It was Lavarnway’s first walkoff rap and Stallings’ second. The third and final game wasn’t quite as dramatic - though a squeaker, there were no walkoff heroics, with the game winner a solo shot by 2B Adam Frazier in the fifth inning, followed by rows of goose eggs. For the Pirates, it was part of a nice, albeit late (“wait til next year,” you betcha) run as they took their fifth straight win and were on an 11-of-14 roll to go three games over .500.
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