9/15 From 1965: Key To The City; 5-Homers; 5-Game Sweep; El Tiante Grande; Granny Garner; Blass Bash; Game Tales; HBD Parker & Rich

• 1968 - Steve Blass did it all in a 3-0 win against the Mets at Shea Stadium. He won his 16th game, and seventh in a row, by spinning a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts and more than helped himself at the dish, twice singling home runs. He was supported at the plate by Roberto Clemente, who had three hits, including two doubles, to open both of the Bucs' run-scoring frames. Manager Larry Shepard said of Blass “He’s come from nowhere to where he’s now our number one pitcher.” Steverino aw-shucked the praise, but did admit “Baseball sure has been a lot of fun for me this summer.” 
• 1968 - LHP Rich Robertson was born in Nacogdoches, Texas. A 1990 draft pick of the Bucs, he was a seldom used mop-up guy for Pittsburgh in 1993-94, getting in 17 games and putting up an 0-1/6.57 slash. The Twins picked him up off the waiver wire, and he had his best MLB season for them in 1995 and started from 1996-97, winning 17 games. He lasted one more campaign, and after spending time in the minors, he stepped off the slab in 2000. 

Rich Robertson - 1993 Fleer Final

• 1976 - Dave Parker went 4-for-5 with a homer and double while Bill Robinson and Richie Zisk also went long in a 7-2 win against the Phils at Veterans Stadium. The three amigos accounted for six RBI and six runs scored among them (Duffy Dyer chased home Willie Stargell for the other tally) to support John Candelaria, who went seven innings of two-run, three-hit ball for his 15th victory of the campaign, and Dave Giusti, who posted a pair of zeros to close it out. 
• 1978 - Phil Garner hit his second grand slam in two games. Today’s was in the first inning off Woodie Fryman as the Pirates beat the Expos 6-1 at TRS. Yesterday’s granny came against Bob Forsch in the seventh frame as the Bucs beat the Cards, 7-4, also at TRS. Garner was the first MLB player to hit slams in consecutive games since Brooks Robinson in 1962. Bruce Kison earned the Expo win with late help from Ed Whitson and Kent Tekulve; Jim Rooker went wire-to-wire for victory against the Cards. It was the 17th straight home win for the Pirates, who cut the Phils’ lead in the NL to three games. They would run their TRS streak to 24 consecutive wins, undefeated there until the next-to-last game of the season when Philly eliminated them. 
• 1981 - Luis Tiant may have been 40-years-old and nearing the end of his road, but he took a sip from the fountain of youth in a 9-2 win against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Not only did he toss a four-hit complete game with eight whiffs, but he capped a five-run fifth inning by banging a two-out, bases-loaded double that cleared the sacks and gave him a seven-run lead. El Tiante had a shutout going until there were two gone in the ninth, when Leon Durham’s homer broke up the whitewash. Dave Parker, Tony Pena and Omar Moreno combined for seven hits to lead the attack. 

Luis Tiant - 1982 Topps

• 1983 - Richie Hebner iced an 8-4 win over the Cubs with an eighth-inning, pinch hit grand slam off of Chicago closer Lee Smith, earning a curtain call from the TRS faithful. Larry McWilliams went the distance for the win, and was ably supported by the Bucco 2-3-4 hitters (Johnny Ray, Dave Parker, Jason Thompson) who combined for seven hits, five runs scored and three RBI. The game put the Bucs in a tie with the Phils for the division’s top spot, but Philadelphia would pull away to take the crown easily by six games over the Pirates at the final gun. 
• 1990 - RHP Parker Markel was born in Newport Beach, California. He was a late round pick in 2010 by Tampa Bay out of Yavapai CC after passing on the Tigers draft offer the year before as a prepster. He made it into the show for five outings with Seattle in 2019, was treated rudely in a small sample size by the AL hitters, and waived. The Pirates claimed him as a depth guy and then brought him up from Indy a week later. He got into 15 games and K'ed 21 batters in 17-1/3 IP, but gave up three bombs on his way to a 5.71 ERA. He’s now in the White Sox system. 
• 1992 - Alex Coles used the old Roberto Clemente ploy and threw out St. Louis pitcher Mark Clark at first base from right field as the Bucs edged the Cards, 4-2, at Busch Stadium. Helping the cause were homers by Jeff King, Barry Bonds, and Andy Van Slyke. Paul Wagner got the win in relief of Randy Tomlin, with Danny Cox closing to pick up the save. 
• 1994 - The Pirates announced that Calgary of the Pacific Coast League would replace Buffalo of the International League as their AAA club, signing a two-year deal with the Cannons. Calgary lasted through the 1997 season; the Bucs moved their top prospects to Nashville in 1998. 

Jon Lieber - 1996 Collectors Choice

• 1996 - The Pirates took a twin bill from the Giants by 4-1 and 11-9 scores at 3Com Park, sweeping the G-Men in a five-game set, a feat the Bucs wouldn’t repeat again until 2018 when they broomed Milwaukee at PNC Park. Jon Lieber scattered nine hits for the win with help from Matt Reubel. Orlando Merced and Carlos Garcia had a pair of hits, but the key blow was John Wehner's two-out, two-run, two-bagger. The offensive fireworks in the second game were provided by Tony Womack and Carlos Garcia, each with a pair of hits and three RBI while Jermaine Allensworth added four raps as the Bucs banged out 16 hits. Marc Wilkins, the fifth of seven pitchers, got the win. It was a wild finale - the game was tied 5-5 after nine; the Bucs hung on by outscoring the Giants 6-4 in the 10th inning, with San Fran bringing the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs before Joe Boever whiffed Kim Batiste to book it. The sweep was the start of an 11-game winning streak, but they still finished with just 73 wins in what would be Jim Leyland’s last Pirates campaign before moving on to Florida. 
• 1997 - It was looking good for the Bucs, who had a 4-1 lead going into the ninth against the Expos and Pedro Martinez at TRS, but a pair of Pirates errors led to three unearned runs, and the game went into extra innings. Ricardo Rincon and Marc Wilkins righted the ship with a clean frame before Kevin Young led off the bottom of the frame with an opposite field, walkoff home run off Anthony Telford. Wilkins, the fifth Bucco hurler, earned the victory while the Freak Show kept its hopes alive, with the win moving them to 3-1/2 games out of first. 
• 2011 - Ross Ohlendorf recorded his first win of the year and also whacked his first (and only) career homer in a 6-2 win over LA at Dodger Stadium. The Pirates trailed, 1-0, after the first inning before scoring four times in the second, highlighted by a two-out, three-run blast by Ohlie who went seven four-hit, two-run innings to do it all in the City of Angels. 

Ross Ohlendorf - 2011 Topps 60 Years

• 2016 - The Buc bats erupted for a 15-2 beatdown of the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Pirates hit five homers (Andrew McCutchen-2, John Jaso, Sean Rodriguez & Jordy Mercer the others) and nine of their 13 hits (they also drew eight walks) were for extra bases. Pittsburgh tied an MLB record that's been on the books since 1913 by leaving just one man LOB when scoring 15+ runs. The Bucs eight-run ninth matched their best inning of the year while 15 runs were the high water mark for runs scored in a game that season. Talk about using all three outs: the last 12 runs the Corsairs plated came with two away. The 15 runs were the most for the Bucs in a game against the Phils since June, 1967. 
• 2019 - The Pirates were mauled by the Cubs, 16-6, at Wrigley, capping a record-setting exercise in futility for Pittsburgh pitchers. The Bucs tied their modern franchise record for runs surrendered in a three-game set with 47, matching the 1950 debacle when Brooklyn rang up 47 runs at Ebbets Field. The Bucco slab staff gave up 14 or more runs in three straight games for the first time in modern Corsair history while the Cubs became the fifth team since 1900 to score at least 14 runs in three consecutive games, along with the 1901 & 1928 Pirates, 1930 Cubs, and 1993 Tigers. And to keep the 14 vibe going, Chicago also hit 14 homers during the set. 
• 2021 - Seems like it was a long time coming, but Roberto Clemente’s family was given the key to the City in Roberto’s name by Mayor Bill Peduto on MLB’s 20th Roberto Clemente Day. The presentation was part of the afternoon’s ceremonies held at The Great One’s statue by PNC Park. 

Wilmer Difo - 2021 Pirates image

• 2021 - The Reds were fighting for a wildcard spot while the Pirates were lining up tee times, but the Bucs showed they were still going to play out the season hard by taking a 5-4, walk off win at PNC Park on Roberto Clemente Night. It was a seesaw game - Pittsburgh was down 2-0, surged ahead 4-2, and then Cincy tied it up in the eighth. Chris Stratton tossed a clean ninth and Wilmer Difo did the rest. He blooped a one-out double and came home from there on a pedal-to-the-metal dash during a ground out. Colin Moran rolled one past first, and Cincinnati pitcher Mychal Givens covered first, taking the throw that carried him a few steps up the line. Third base coach Joey Cora waved him on, Difo (who said he didn’t even see Cora) put his head down and kept on truckin’ while Givens hit the brakes, turned and threw home. Wilmer’s headfirst slide home beat Givens’ toss to give Pittsburgh their ninth walk off: the 19th hole could wait until October.