6/19 From 1975: Jack's 3 Jacks; Todd POTW; Simmons Out; '60 Reunion; Pierogi Boiled; Game Tales; HBD Cody, Austin, Tyler, Dusty & Willis

• 1975 - RHP Willis Roberts was born in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic. The reliever put in five MLB seasons, mainly as an Oriole, and his last year of 2004 was spent as a Pirate. In nine games, he put up a 5.25 ERA after signing on as a free agent; he mostly worked out of AAA Nashville. Willis retired in August and spent three more years tossing in Mexico, Venezuela and Italy before heading into the sunset after the 2007 campaign. 
• 1975 - Jerry Reuss gave himself a birthday gift by shutting out the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-0, at Three Rivers Stadium, tossing a complete game six-hitter with seven whiffs. Homers by Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and Bill Robinson gave the southpaw all the b-day gifts he needed. 
• 1982 - C Dustin “Dusty” Brown was born in Orange, California. Dusty’s career in the show consisted of 24 games for three teams from 2009-11, with his last stop at Pittsburgh, where he collected three hits in 28 at bats before being DFA’ed in June. Fun fact: His first big league hit was a home run over the Green Monster of Fenway Park; it was his only MLB homer. 
• 1991 - C Tyler Heineman was born in Pacific Palisades, California. Heineman was a journeyman catcher who had gotten into 31 games (22 starts) with Miami, San Francisco and Toronto, compiling a .221 lifetime BA. The Pirates claimed the 30-year-old off waivers in May of 2022 after starter Roberto Perez, who had hammy surgery, was lost for the year. He and Jason Delay eventually became the backstop tandem, with Tyler catching 40 games while hitting .211. 

Tyler Heineman - 2022 photo/MLB.com

• 1992 - RHP Austin Brice was born in Hong Kong (and yes, he’s the first MLB player born in Hong Kong). The reliever put in six seasons with Miami, Cincy and Boston (4-4/5.17 in 140 outings) before the Pirates signed him as a free agent in 2021. Brice started the 2022 season at Indy and was called up in late June. He got into four games and became a FA after the year. 
• 1993 - GM Ted Simmons resigned after suffering a heart attack on June 8th and was succeeded by Cam Bonifay. Ted got back in the saddle after his recovery, working as an executive and scout for the Cardinals, Indians, Padres, Mariners and Braves. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2020 for his 21-year career as a catcher for the Cards, Brewers and Braves. 
• 1995 - Steve Pegues bopped his first pair of MLB homers to lead the Bucs to an 8-2 win over the San Francisco Giants at TRS. Carlos Garcia and Don Slaught each added a pair of hits while Denny Neagle ran his record to 7-3 with eight strong innings. Pegues finished the year with six long balls during his last season of MLB ball, followed by three more minor-league campaigns for four teams. 
• 1998 - RHP Carl “Cody” Bolton was born in Richmond, Virginia. The Bucs drafted him out of California’s Tracy HS in the sixth round of the 2017 draft. He missed 2020 due to the Covid minor league shutdown and then all of 2021 following knee surgery. Cody came back strong in ‘22 at Indy (4-2/3.09 w/10 K per nine innings), his workload split between starting and the pen. Bolton was converted to full-time relieving in ‘23, where he got off to a strong start for the Tribe and was called up to Pittsburgh in April, sent back down, recalled and returned again. 

Cody Bolton - 2023 photo/Pirates

• 2001 - RHP Todd Ritchie won the NL Pitcher of the Week award. He beat Detroit and the White Sox in that span, giving up a run on nine hits with 11 K and four walks over 17 IP. It was quite a turnaround - he was the first player in franchise history to start the year 0-8, finally snapping his losing streak by stopping the Tigers to begin a five game winning streak. Todd straightened up and finished the year with an 11-15 slate. 
• 2010 - 38,008 fans showed up at PNC Park to take part in the 1960 World Series team reunion. The old champs apparently inspired the current crew, who broke a 12-game losing streak by beating the Cleveland Indians, 6-4. Lastings Milledge was a homer short of the cycle and had four RBI while Andrew McCutchen had a pair of hits, drew three walks and scored four runs. The Pirates went through six hurlers, with Jeff Karstens the winner and Octavio Dotel earning the save. 
• 2010 - The Pirates fired racing pierogi Andrew Kurtz after he criticized John Russell and Neal Huntington’s secret contract extensions on his Facebook page. The 24-year-old was offered a position by the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League to become one of its racing hot dogs before being rehired by the Bucs after they received a media bashing. 
• 2014 - The Bucs scored three times in the fifth frame on a balk and two-out singles by Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen, but it still took them 12 innings to subdue the Reds, 4-3, at PNC Park. A single, balk, intentional walk and hit batter loaded the bases for Russ Martin with two outs, and he drew a walk for the gift win, the first walk-off free pass ever issued at PNC Park. Justin Wilson, the sixth Pirate pitcher of the day, got the win against Cincy. 

Bryan Reynolds - 2019 Topps Update

• 2019 - The Pirates fell behind the Detroit Tigers by a 7-1 count in the top of the third inning, but they kept on keeping on at PNC Park. Trevor Williams tightened up to work five frames before Richard Rodriguez, the eventual winner, Frankie Liriano and Felipe Vazquez, who got the save, followed with zeros, allowing the Buc bats time to battle back. Corey Dickerson hit a two-out, two-run double to ignite the comeback, Starling Marte banged a two-run homer to make it close and Bryan Reynolds, who had three hits, three RBI’s and three runs scored, launched a three-run bomb in the sixth that proved the game-winner in an 8-7 Pirates victory. It was the first time since 2008 that Pittsburgh had overcome a six-run deficit. 
• 2021 - The Bucs won their second in a row over the Cleveland Indians, 6-3, at PNC Park in a day that highlighted offensive true outcomes. Pittsburgh was down 2-0 in the seventh when two walks set up a three-run dinger by Michael Perez; two more walks later, Bryan Reynolds put a ball in the Allegheny to provide the Pirates offense. The Tribes’ attack consisted of three solo homers, two by ex-Bucco farmhand Harold Ramirez. Chris Stratton picked up the win after two innings of scoreless, one-hit relief and Richard Rodriguez earned the save. 
• 2022 - The Pirates used four homers, three by Jack Suwinski, who joined Andrew McCutchen (8/1/2009 v Washington) as the only Buc rookie to go deep three times in one contest, with the other big fly by Hoy Park, to walk off a 4-3 victory against the Giants at PNC Park. Pittsburgh had battled back from a first-inning 2-0 deficit to claim a 3-2 edge after six frames. It stayed that way until the ninth when Dave Bednar, looking to finish the six-out save, was tagged for a game-tying homer. Suwinski picked him up by leading off the Buccaneer half with a shot into the Clemente stands, his 11th of the year, tops to date among rookies. Bednar, who struck out four in his two frames, ended up with the blown save/win combo, with Cam Vieaux working as the bridge between him and starter Mitch Keller to hold San Francisco to four hits. To provide the cherry on top, it was Fathers Day, with Jack’s proud dad Tim in the stands. He got to not only watch the long fly triplet but to witness the fans stealing a page from the Penguins and tossing caps on the field after the third homer in recognition of Suwinski’s “hat trick.”