8/2 From 1970: Brown, Kipper, Clements Deal; Vazquez ROTM; Rock Rolls; Cobra, Pops Cover Boys; 6 For Robertson; Bonus Time Wins; Game Tales

• 1970 - Pittsburgh outslugged the Braves, 10-7, at Atlanta Stadium behind the hot sticks of Bob Robertson and John Jeter. Robertson went long twice and drove home six runs; the other four runs were chased home by Jeter, who also homered. Dock Ellis got the win, although Dave Giusti made it interesting in the ninth, giving up three runs on back-to-back Bravo home runs. 

• 1971 - Willie Stargell was the cover boy for Sports Illustrated as part of the feature article “Pittsburgh Overpowers the East.” The Bucs did take the division crown, NL title and World Series and Captain Willie led the way with 48 HR, 125 RBI, .295 BA and a .628 slugging % as he lifted his game to another level.
• 1974 - The Bucs took advantage of a couple of Redbird miscues to take a 3-2, 14-inning match from St. Louis at TRS, snapping a six-game Cardinal winning streak. The Bucs legit run scored on an Al Oliver solo homer. Pittsburgh scored a second run when the Cards muffed a double play. The winner came home after the Cards had already cut down one run at the plate but blew the chance at a second. Richie Hebner singled with two outs and Ed Kirkpatrick at second; he scored uncontested when C Ted Simmons (a future Pirates GM) drifted up the line to track the throw home when he should have stayed at home. 1B Joe Torre had slid over to cut the offline peg and spun to relay the ball only to find Simmons nowhere near the dish, but still 10’ up the baseline. Ramon Hernandez got the win, following Larry Demery and Dave Giusti. 
• 1975 - Dave Parker was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Lethal Punch.” In his third season, the Cobra put up a .308/25/101 slash for the division-winning Pirates, beginning a streak of five straight .300+ campaigns. 
• 1977 - The Pirates scored twice in the ninth inning to tie the score, 3-3, against Houston at the Astrodome before Bill Robinson hit a two-out, game-winning three-run homer off Dan Larson in the top of the 10th to win it. Robinson had tied the game with a single with Dave Parker aboard the frame before; the throw to third to try to get The Cobra went through third baseman Enos Cabell and both Parker & Robinson scored on the misplay. Larson threw a complete game in a losing effort, giving up just six hits, with five coming in the final 1-2/3 innings. Grant Jackson pitched the final three frames, allowing just one hit for the win. 

Johnny Ray - 1982 Donruss

• 1982 - It took 17 innings, but the Bucs rode a two-run triple by Johnny Ray to a 4-2 victory over the Cards at Busch Stadium. Rick Rhoden and John Stupor left with the game tied at two, with the Bucco tallies coming on a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth by Jason Thompson. Enrique Romo, who pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the 10th, was credited with the win after Rod Scurry and Kent Tekulve put up zeroes. There was plenty going on - the game was the longest of the year to date, the Cardinals stranded 24! runners, going 2-for-23 w/RISP, and Chuck Tanner was tossed from the game by Bob Davidson, then put on a skipper show by going on a rant before flinging his cap into the ground. 
• 1985 - The last-place Pirates dumped a trio of players, trading pitchers John Candelaria and Al Holland along with OF George Hendrick to the Angels for OF Mike Brown and pitchers Pat Clements & Bob Kipper. The deal was triggered to add some youth to the roster while moving two veterans who were described by the media as “disgruntled” with the other in his walk year. 
• 1987 - One day before his birthday, the Bucs picked up Jim Gott off waivers from the Giants. In a season plus, he saved 47 games for the Pirates, but an elbow injury in 1989 limited him to one outing, and Pittsburgh let him go as a free agent. Gott then pitched from 1990-94 for the Dodgers, ending his career back in Pittsburgh in 1995. He later coached for both the Angels and Phils but has been out of baseball since 2021. 
• 1990 - The middle four of the Pirates order (Jay Bell, Andy Van Slyke, Bobby Bonilla and Barry Bonds) went 10-for-19 with a double, triple, and three homers, while driving in and scoring all the Pirates runs to lead the Bucs to an 8-5 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Jon Smiley got the win despite some shaky relief work until Bob Walk shut Chicago down over the last two frames to close it out and pick up the save. 

John Wehner - 1992 Upper Deck

• 1992 - The Bucs were down, 1-0, with two outs in the ninth to St. Louis at TRS with Lee Smith on the hill and Andy Van Slyke on second before rallying for a 2-1 win. Jeff King singled AVS home to tie it and went to second on the play at the plate, then Don Slaught’s knock chased King around for the walk off win. Randy Tomlin went eight six-hit innings, but Bob Walk notched the victory for putting up a final-frame zero. It also marked the beginning of John Wehner’s 99-game errorless streak at third base. The Rock wouldn’t make another error until October 1st, 2000, in a 10-9 loss to the Cubs, to share the MLB flawless fielding mark at the hot corner with Jeff Cirillo. It was deja vu all over again; his error in 1992 was a bad throw against the Cubs; his streak ended with another errant toss against Chicago nine years later. 
• 1993 - The Cubs beat the Pirates, 12-10, at Wrigley Field in a game marked by seven HRs, six ejections, three brushbacks and a brawl. Carlos Garcia had a pair of homers for the Bucs‚ and was beaned in his next at-bat by Bob Scanlon, instigating the meet-at-the-mound scrum when Pirates pitcher Blas Minor took aim at Mark Grace later (Minor threw behind him; old-school Grace later said he expected to get drilled; if Minor had just hit him, he would jogged to first and there would have been no problems). Sammy Sosa led the charge off the bench and several debates broke out until Kevin Young found Scanlan and gave him a tap; Ryne Sandberg came to his defense and the dancing began in earnest. McClendon and Al Martin also went long for Pittsburgh in the come-from-ahead loss. Paul Wagner had an 8-2 lead but tried to pitch through a hammy he injured fielding a bunt, allowing the Cubs to come back to tie. 
• 2002 - The Bucs walked off with a 6-5 win over the SF Giants at PNC Park. Down a run with two outs in the ninth, Jason Kendall lined a single and Jack Wilson followed with a bloop. Brian Giles then drilled Rob Nenn’s 1-2 pitch into left center for a double to plate them both for the win. All three batters were down to their last swing; the hits were all with two strikes. Adam Hyzdu and Rob Mackowiak homered for the Bucs while Brian Boehringer got the win. 

Brian Giles - 2002 Bowmans Best

• 2003 - The Pirates beat the Colorado Rockies at PNC in front of 37,820 fireworks night fans by a 1-0 count. The shutout was spun by the unlikely trio of Brian Meadows, Brian Boehringer and Mike Lincoln. Meadows scattered five hits over seven innings and Bo followed with a clean eighth, but left in the ninth with an out and Rox on the corners. Lincoln’s first pitch to Jay Payton was tapped to short for a game-ending 6-4-3 that was hotly disputed by the Colorado manager Clint Hurdle (he was still a few years away from making PNC Park his home office), along with the first base coach and Peyton. The Bucco run was scored by Randall Simon in the second inning after a Jose Hernandez double and an RBI grounder by Abraham Nunez. 
• 2018 - Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez was named NL Reliever of the Month for July while setup men Kyle Crick and Edgar Santana also received votes. All-Star Vazquez had a win, eight saves, a 1.46 ERA and 22K in 12-1/3 IP. The Nightmare was the first Pirates RoM since Jason Grilli took the honors in April & May 2013.