10/7 From 1970: Tanner Dismissed; Mostly Bad Day For Playoffs; Game Tales; HBD Nick

• 1972 - The Pirates scored three times in the first and never looked back as they beat the Reds, 5-1, in the NLCS opener at TRS. Al Oliver had a homer, triple, two runs scored and three RBI to give Steve Blass all the offense he’d need. After the game, Allegheny County Coroner Cyril Wecht was arrested for disorderly conduct; it seems he didn’t like the way a traffic cop was directing stadium traffic, and after several warnings to refrain from his commentary, he found himself waved into a paddy wagon. 
• 1975 - John Candelaria fanned 14 Reds at TRS, but Pittsburgh lost the NLCS finale, 5-3, as Cincy swept the series three games to none. The Bucs got a two-run homer from Al Oliver, but Ramon Hernandez was touched up for a pair of runs in the 10th inning to take the loss. The Reds went on to beat the Boston Red Sox in seven games to win the World Series. 

Candy Man - 1976 Hostess

• 1985 - Chuck Tanner was fired by the Pirates, but wasn’t out of work for long as he was hired to manage the Braves three days later. Chuck’s teams had spent five years around .500 after the ‘79 championship and suffered a black eye during the Coke Trials. Jim Leyland would later be named as the new skipper while Tanner went on to spend three years with the Bravos. He then served as a baseball operations assistant for the Milwaukee Brewers (1992-2002) before scouting for five years for the Cleveland Indians. Chuck closed out as a senior advisor to Pirates GM Neal Huntington beginning in 2007, a position he held until he passed away in 2011. 
• 1992 - The Braves took a 2-0 lead in the NLCS with a 13-5 pounding of the Pirates at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Bucs threw seven pitchers at Atlanta, which banged out 14 hits, including a Ron Gant grand slam. The Bravos had a pair of four-run innings and iced it in the seventh, when they scored five two-out tallies off Denny Neagle. 
• 1996 - RHP Nick Mears was born in Sacramento, California. Mears, an undrafted free agent, joined the Bucs in 2018 and was a fast riser, going through three MiLB levels before reaching Altoona at the end of 2019 and capping off the year with a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League. He was invited to camp and called up on August 8th, made one appearance, and was returned to the alternate minor league camp after the MLB staff got a chance to look him over. Nick rejoined the club later in the month, getting into four games total and fanning seven in five frames with a 5.40 ERA. He started at Indy in 2021, was recalled in late May, then joined the Pirates pen full time in late July. 
• 2001 - Pirate prospect Chad Hermanson showed a brief flash when his three-run homer in the eighth inning off Carlos Zambrano scored the Wilson boys, Craig and Jack, to give Pittsburgh a season-closing 4-3 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Joe Beimel got the win with a save from Mike Fetters. 

Petey made all the noise - 2013 Topps Gold Wide

• 2013 - The Pirates were on the brink of eliminating the St. Louis Cardinals from the NLDC at PNC Park, but the Redbirds rode Michael Wacha’s arm to a 2-1 victory and winner-take-all game at Busch Stadium. The Cards drew first blood when Matt Holliday hit a two-run homer in the sixth off Charlie Morton. Pittsburgh halved the gap in the eighth when they got their first and only hit, a 438’ bomb by Pedro Alvarez, to make it a one-run contest. But both bullpens were in shutdown mode, and the score stood. 40,493 fans showed up for the third consecutive postseason game to set a park attendance record. The Cardinals set a playoff record as all three of their pitchers (Wacha, Carlos Martinez and Trevor Rosenthal, who got the save) were 23 or younger. 
• 2015 - The Bucs were one-and-done in the 2015 playoffs, losing the wild card game to the Chicago Cubs, 4-0. The Cubs scored early off Gerrit Cole as the top of the order, Dexter Fowler and Kyle Schwarber, went 5-for-6 against Cole Train, accounting for all four runs and each pounding a homer. The Pirates big opportunity came in the sixth when they loaded the bases with an out, but a bullet off Starling Marte’s bat, with an exit speed of 109 MPH, was an at ‘em ball to short, resulting in a rally-crushing DP. Jake Arrieta held the Bucs to four hits with 11 K in a complete game win. A PNC Park record 40,889 fans were at the game to watch the 98-win Pirates face off against the 97-win Cubs; the Cards won the division with 100 victories.