6/22 From 1970: Brad Signs; 5 For Rennie; Dovy Debut; Gregory Stopped At 11; Gems & Game Tales; HBD Brant

• 1970 - RHP Jim Nelson tossed his first (and only) complete game and shutout, beating the Cards, 1-0, in 10 innings at Forbes Field to salvage a twin-bill split, with Gene Alley scoring the game-winner after a Matty Alou knock. For a guy who only had 32 outings (12 starts) in MLB, he was pretty notable: Nelson started his career with a 4-0 record for the Pirates in 1970, a feat not matched by a Pirates starting pitcher until Zach Duke in 2005, and was the last Pittsburgh pitcher to win his first three career starts until Gerrit Cole in 2013. Nelson also was the starting and winning pitcher in the final game played at Forbes Field in 1970. He struggled with control in 1971, and was demoted to the minor leagues, but refused to report to AAA Charleston until the end of the season. His teammates voted him a half-share of their 1971 World Series money, but Pirates management denied him a World Series ring. He then underwent rotator cuff surgery and never returned to the majors, with a career slash of 6-4/3.06. 
• 1971 - OF/1B Brant Brown was born in Porterville, California. The Bucs swapped Jon Lieber for Brant after he had hit .291/14 HR with the Chicago Cubs in 1998, but in 130 Pirates games he hit just .232, although he did swat 16 homers and chase home 58 runs. He was sent to the San Diego Padres after the year for Bruce Aven and 2000 was his last big-league season. Since he’s retired, Brown has coached in the Rangers and Mariners minor-league systems and is now a dual assistant hitting coach/minor league hitting coordinator for the Dodgers. 
• 1976 - Rennie Stennett delivered five hits to help rally the Pirates from a 5-0 deficit to a 10-7 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Richie Zisk & Al Oliver had three knocks each (the team overall collected 19 raps) while four Bucs had two RBI and eight different Corsairs scored to carry Larry Demery, the middle arm of a five-pitcher parade, to the victory. 

Bob Walk - 1993 Leaf (reverse)

• 1993 - Bob Walk spun a three-hitter as the Bucs downed the Cubs, 7-2, at TRS. Walkie had the magic touch against Chicago, with the win pushing him to 15-3 lifetime against the Baby Bruins (he finished his career 15-4 against them; this was the 36-year-old’s final campaign). It was the second back-to-back complete game of his 14-year MLB stint. His support came from Jeff King and Al Martin dingers, with Kevin Young banging out four hits. Walk wasn’t particularly impressed by the outing, though. He told Paul Meyer of the Post Gazette that “Everything they hit was right at somebody. They could have easily had 100 hits...” Manager Jim Leyland, for one, was glad that the at’ em balls led to an easy night for the exhausted skipper, as he had spent the evening before at the hospital where wife Katie delivered daughter Kellie. 
• 1996 - They say that you gotta score to win, but apparently no one informed the Pirates and Florida Marlins of that fact at Joe Robbie Stadium. Starting southpaws Denny Neagle and Al Leiter left goose eggs for their bullpens, and it was scoreless after nine frames. Then the memo arrived in the 10th; a walk, a couple of soft singles and a three-run blast up the left field line by Jeff King made it 4-0, and Francisco Cordova took the match home for Dan Plesac after giving up an unearned run (thanks to his own miscue) for a final tally of 4-1. 
• 2006 - RHP Brad Lincoln, the Pirates first round draft pick selected out of the U of Houston, signed for a bonus estimated at $2.75M. He was introduced at a Bucco presser and then sent straight to Bradenton to the Rookie League Pirates. The day before, it was announced that Pittsburgh prospects C Neil Walker and LHP Tom Gorzelanny would appear in the Futures Game for the USA during MLB’s All-Star weekend while the number one pick from 2005, Andrew McCutchen, went 1-for-3 in the Sally League All-Star game. In more All Star news, National League skipper Phil Garner of the Astros selected Bucco bench minder Jim Tracy to his staff, along with Chuck Tanner as an honorary coach, for the PNC Park Midsummer Classic. 
• 2010 - RHP Dovydas Neverauskas saw some minor league mop-up duty for the GCL Pirates during an 11-4 loss to the New York Yankee rookies, becoming the first born-and-raised Lithuanian to appear in an organized baseball contest. Dovy debuted with the Pirates in 2017.

Dovy - 2018 Topps Allen & Ginter World Talent

• 2011 - At PNC Park, the Pirates reached the magic .500 mark as Kevin Correia picked up his 9th win, 5-4, over the Orioles, with Joel Hanrahan earning his 20th save in 20 opps (he would run up 26 saves before blowing a lead). The big blow was delivered by Josh Harrison, who plated Brandon Wood and Michael McKenry when his fifth-inning, two-out ground ball rolled between the second baseman's legs. The Pirates were fighting to end an 18-year streak of losing seasons, but it wouldn’t be this year (nor next). The team was over .500 in late July, but by August 3rd, they had a losing record and then circled the drain, finishing 72-90. 
• 2014 - Rookie Gregory Polanco’s team-record streak of 11 straight games with a hit to open his career ended at Wrigley Field, but the Bucs still prevailed, 2-1. Travis Snider’s home run and Josh Harrison’s two-out single gave Brandon Cumpton just enough support for the dub, with Mark Melancon coming on to close it out. Polanco did continue his on-base streak, which reached 14 games before he finally had a contest without a hit or walk. El Coffee had barely kept his hit streak alive in the prior game by winning a challenge: upon review, he was credited with an infield single that had originally been ruled a bang-bang out at first. 
• 2018 - The Pirates lost in 11 innings to the Arizona D-Backs, 2-1, at PNC Park in a game that Ivan Nova and the Snakes Pat Corbin teamed up to generate a deep-dive stat to set a big league record. (Nova - eight innings, three hits, eight K) and Corbin (seven innings - three hits, 12 K) became the first starters to go at least seven frames of shutout ball giving up three hits or fewer while posting eight or more strikeouts and no walks in MLB history. It took 10 more pitchers to finish the final 5-1/2 innings, with Tyler Glasnow eventually losing to TJ McFarland.