- 1973 - The Pirates overcame 3-0 and 8-4 deficits by pounding out 20 hits and eventually wearing out the Montreal Expos in 11 innings at TRS by a 9-8 count. Dave Cash had the walkoff hit, his fourth of the game, when he lined a single over third against John Strohmeyer and a five-man infield to plate Bob Robertson. Manny Sanguillen and Al Oliver had three hits each while three other Bucs had a pair of knocks, including starting pitcher Steve Blass. The game was sloppily played by both sides. One example was Dock Ellis, who was called on to pinch run. He was wearing a jacket that the ump made him take off (only the actual hurlers are permitted to wear one on the bases). Dock being Dock, he didn’t have a jersey on under the coat but just a tee. Being out of uniform, he had to be replaced by someone (Bob Moose) suitably dressed for the occasion.
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| Dave Cash - 1973 Topps |
- 1981 - 1B Justin Morneau was born in New Westminster, British Columbia. He joined Pittsburgh during the 2013 deadline to fill a hole at 1B in a trade with the Twins for OF Alex Presley and RHP Duke Welker. In 25 games for Pittsburgh, he hit .260 with no homers and only three RBI. Morneau had a solid playoff run, reaching base twice in the win over the Cincinnati Reds in the Wild Card Game, then went 6-for-20 with four runs scored against the Cardinals in the NLDS. His lack of power dimmed the Bucs interest and he signed a FA deal with the Rockies, going on to win the NL batting title with a .319 average in 2014 to finish ahead of Josh Harrison (.315) and Andrew McCutchen (.314).
- 1982 - Talk about helping yourself! Pitcher Rick Rhoden doubled and homered in a nine-run third inning, with Johnny Ray driving in five runs, three in that fateful frame with a long ball. The Pirates held off a late Cincinnati push - the Reds scored eight times in the last two innings against Rhoden and Enrique Romo - to secure a 12-9 victory at Three Rivers Stadium.
- 1996 - Denny Neagle blanked the Braves at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on four hits through seven innings to win his fifth contest in a row, 3-0, backed by Jeff King’s two-run homer off Steve Avery. The lefty lost his next outing, then rang up three more victories to sit at 8-2 in early June. Also, the Pirates traded CF Jacob Brumfield to the Toronto Blue Jays for minor league 1B DJ Boston. Brumfield finished his career after the 1999 campaign as a reserve outfielder while DJ played AAA, Mexican and indie ball through 2006.
- 1999 - RHP Luis Oviedo was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. He came to the Bucs in a roundabout way, being plucked by the Mets from the Indians in the 2020 Rule 5 draft and then flipped to Pittsburgh for cash. He was a long shot to make the team, having never pitched above Class A, but the Pirates liked his ceiling as a big league starter and carried him on the Opening Day roster, albeit in the pen. He won his first MLB game in relief against the Giants in mid-May. Luis ran into some rough patches, but thanks to several weeks on the IL with a quad injury, managed to make it through his Rule 5 year as a member of the MLB roster. It was to no avail: he was waived in April of ‘22 and lost to his original club, the Cleveland Guardians, where he’s now tossing in AAA.
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| Ian Snell - 2005 Bowman Picks |
- 2005 - The Pirates were still debating whether minor league star RHP Ian Snell’s future lay in the bullpen or rotation (at 5'-11", 180 lbs, the brass were unsure he’d have the physical stamina to start regularly), but Snell made a strong pitch to remain a starter when he threw a no-hitter against Norfolk. The 23-year-old Indy righty used 101 pitches to tame the Tide, tossing his third offering, a change up, with great success. It was the first Indy no-no since 1974, when they were affiliated with Cincinnati. Snell ultimately proved to be a AAAA hurler: he spent six years as a Bucco with 116 starts and 12 bullpen outings, but only had one campaign when he posted an ERA under 4.74.
- 2006 - The Pirates and Cincinnati Reds got in just three innings before rain canceled their Hall of Fame exhibition, but it did mark the first MLB outing for the Bucs 2005 top pick and future MVP/All-Star Andrew McCutchen. He was added to the roster for the game and he popped out in his only at-bat before returning to the Low Class A Hickory Crawdads. Cutch said it wasn’t time wasted. He explained that “To get some experiences from the outfielders, Jason Bay and (Jeremy) Burnitz, I learned a lot.” He made his big league debut with Pittsburgh in 2009.
- 2021 - The Pirates gave up three homers, hit into three DPs, had two guys thrown out at home, let a pop drop that cost them a pair of runs and lost two hits to challenges. But their sticks came alive late to take an 8-6 win from the Western Division-leading Giants at PNC, led by Jake Stallings, who doubled home two runs with two outs in the seventh to tie the game and then whacked a two-out, two-run homer to walk it off in the ninth. He and Bryan Reynolds each had three hits while Chasen Shreve, Chris Stratton and winner Rich Rodriguez kept the San Francisco bats quiet at the end. It was the Bucs second straight walkoff against the G-Men, their first two of the season.
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| Jake Stallings - 2021 image/Pirates |
- 2022 - The Pirates were no-hit by the Reds’ Hunter Greene and Art Warren at PNC Park - and won! Greene and Jose Quintana were locked in a duel, with the two twirlers going mano-a-mano to spin scoreless ball. Greene was tossing a no-no, finishing with five walks, while Q had a four-hit, one-walk effort. After Chris Stratton was called on to work the eighth and stranded a pair of Redlegs, Greene walked the eight-nine batters after an out, with a work day of 118 pitches. He was yanked and Warren came on, losing the next Bucco to load the sacks. Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a chopper to second and hustled to easily beat the attempted DP relay to give the Pirates an unlikely 1-0 lead and win after David Bednar took the ball and worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out in front of 10,559 fans. It was only the sixth time since 1901 that a team has won with no hits.
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