4/13 From 1975: Game Tales - Bucs In 1st, Hitman, Cobra, Moran Mash, Openers, Long Nite; Duets, BB Cover; 8K-HR; Jody Done; TCI+; RIP Don; HBD Steve

• 1976 - The Bucs promised the fans another Lumber Company and came through in the home opener for the 40,937 faithful at TRS with a 14-4 win over St. Louis, hammering out 13 hits to go with 12 walks. Dave “The Cobra” Parker homered and collected five RBI, Al “Scoops” Oliver posted three hits and three RBI while Manny Sanguillen had the only three-walk game of his career and plated three times. Victor Jerry Reuss had a no-hitter going into the sixth and went the distance. 
• 1979 - John Milner homered twice for the fifth time in his career, including a game-winning, two-run shot in the seventh inning that broke a 5-5 draw, to carry the Pirates to a 7-6 victory over the Cards at Three Rivers Stadium. The Hammer had four RBI on the night to spark the attack; Redbird SS Garry Templeton helped the cause with a two-out, third-inning error that led to four unearned Buc runs, a pair scoring thanks to the boot and two more on Milner’s first long ball. Jim Bibby won in relief of starter Bruce Kison, while Grant Jackson picked up the save. 
• 1983 - 1B/OF Steve Pearce was born in Lakeland, Florida. An eighth-round pick in the 2005 draft, he spent bits and pieces of five seasons (2007-11) in Pittsburgh, hitting .232, and was a magnet for nagging injuries. He carved out an MLB role in the American League, playing for Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Boston before announcing a soft retirement after the 2019 season. Steve hung ’em up for good the following year after 13 campaigns/.254 BA (108 OPS+). 
• 1986 - AT&T SportsNet first hit the air as the Pirates Cable Network, operated by TCI. Its first telecast was on that date, airing a game between the Pirates and Cubs from TRS, an 8-0 Bucco win announced by Mike Lange. The PCN rebranded on April 24th as the KBL Entertainment Network to reflect that other sports besides baseball (mainly the Penguins) were to be included by the network. KBL’s first regular broadcast was against the Mets in early June. In 1994, it became Prime Sports KBL, then two years later Fox Sports Pittsburgh, followed by Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh and once more as FSN Pittsburgh. That whole Fox thing lasted until 2011, when it became Root Sports. In 2017, it flipped to its current network, AT&T SportsNet. With cable stations dropping like flies, this could be the last hurrah for them; hello, MLB Baseball broadcasts. 

TSN - 4/13/1986

• 1987 - Barry Bonds was featured on the cover of The Sporting News for the story “Blossoming Buc.” Although he was still a couple of seasons away from breaking out into elite status, he went on to hit .261 with 25 homers, 99 runs, 59 RBI and 32 stolen sacks during the 1987 campaign. 
• 1988 - The Pirates took over first place for the first time since 1983 with a convincing 7-0 win over the Phils at TRS. Brian Fisher took a five-hitter into the eighth, with Jim Gott coming on to coax the final four outs while Chico Lind and Spanky LaValliere had five hits between and scored five of the Bucco runs. Sadly, it was a long season, and the Bucs finished in second with 85 wins but far off the pace of the Mets 100-win campaign. Al Pedrique will remember the day as the one when an unidentified lady fan leap over the railing in the eighth and told Al “You’re a good looking guy and I’d like to shake you hand” and that’s what they did, leading to some joshing post-game by his teammates that he didn’t end up with a smooch. Fisher said “Al’s not married and in that situation...you’ve got to get a little peck at least.” Another unwritten baseball rule... 
• 1996 - Carlos Garcia took Montreal lefty Jeff Fassero deep for the 8,000th home run in Pirates history during a 9-3 Buc win at TRS. His fourth-inning blast opened the floodgates - Jeff King, Jay Bell, and Mark Johnson all went yard after him to start the chase for 9,000 dingers. Garcia had three hits and Paul Wagner worked seven innings of five-hit shutout ball for the win. 
• 2006 - OF Jody Gerut informed the team that he was going to have knee surgery two weeks after he had been sent to the minors. The Pirates got him in August of 2005 from the Cubs for Matt Lawton, and he took just 18 at bats during that campaign because of his cranky knee. Both sides agreed he had tendinitis, but the Pirates didn’t believe surgery was necessary. It was a potentially costly decision for Jody - since the Bucs didn’t approve the procedure, he went on the restricted list, making him ineligible to collect his $875K salary or payments towards the surgical fees while also putting a stop to his service accrual time (they did reach an agreement of sorts after the MLBPA filed a grievance). It was the end of his Pirates days, too. He did eventually have surgery, missed all of 2006 and then was released in camp in 2007. He played for the Brewers and Padres from 2008-10, averaging 225 at bats per season and hitting .259 before retiring. 

Jody Gerut - 2005 Topps

• 2009 - Zach Duke pitched a four-hit, complete game shutout at PNC Park as the Pirates defeated Houston, 7–0, in the Home Opener. Both the Bucs and the Astros wore Pittsburgh Police hats in honor of three officers who were shot and killed on April 4th. The pre-game ceremonies honored the trio, including a flyover by four Apache helicopters, as well as recognizing former pitcher and current broadcaster Steve Blass for his 50th season with the team. Adam LaRoche had three hits, including a homer, and Freddy Sanchez banged out three doubles.
• 2010 - The Pirates flashed some leather to beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-5, at AT&T Park. Paul Maholm hit the ground to snag Aubrey Huff’s ball and in one motion shoveled it and his glove to 1B Jeff Clement while doing a backflip. The save of the game came in the bottom of the ninth when Garrett Jones, at 1B after a double switch, made a diving grab of Pablo Sandoval's liner to end the game after Octavio Dotel had already surrendered two ninth-inning runs. Jones had Kung Fu Panda’s number; he also threw him out at the plate from RF earlier in the game. Every win was hard fought; the Bucs only had 57 of them that campaign, and it cost skipper John Russell his job. 
• 2015 - Josh Harrison became the third Pirate (RJ Reynolds & Billy Cox were the others) to hit a leadoff homer to kick off the Home Opener and it set the tone in the Bucs 5-4 win over Detroit at PNC Park. Pedro Alvarez and Corey Hart also went long in the victory. Gerrit Cole got the victory and Mark Melancon finished up, although the Shark staged a drama when he was touched for three ninth-inning tallies with the tying run aboard and nobody out before finally nailing it down. 
• 2019 - Pat Corbin was doing it all for Washington at National Stadium. He struck out 11 and his only major mistake over seven innings was a solo shot given up to Josh Bell. The lefty also stroked a two-run, two-out knock off Trevor Williams and he left the DC nine with a 2-1 lead after seven innings. Starling Marte stroked a two-run single in the eighth against the beleaguered Nats pen, but the short-lived lead was erased when Anthony Rendon homered off Kela Keone, his second long fly of the night. The game went into the 10th when Colin Moran came off the pine and banged a three-run blast (the Bucs first game-winning, extra-inning, pinch hit dinger since 1998) to put the Pirates up 6-3. Felipe Vazquez nailed it down to give Nick Burdi his first MLB victory. 

Nick Burdi - 2019 Topps 35 Years

• 2021 - It took four hours and was as ugly as a game gets, but the Bucs defeated the Padres at PNC Park by an 8-4 count. Pirate pitchers walked 13 batters and bopped three more (it was the first time since 1948 that a team had 16 BB+HBP in a nine-inning game and won) but three GIDPs and 15 stranded Friars kept the damage to a minimum. The Bucco batsmen banged out 12 hits, had eight more reach by walks/plunks and went 7-for-15 w/RISP against an unlikely team: the Padres had allowed just 25 runs in its first 11 games. Jake Stallings collected three hits, a walk and three RBI while Chris Stratton was credited with the win. 
• 2023 - Don Leppert passed away at the age of 91. Don only caught for the Bucs for two seasons (1961-62; 67 games/.266 BA), but returned in 1966 with AAA Columbus and then coached in the organization from 1967-76, first as a Class A manager and then with the big league club. He served as the first base coach on the Pirates’ 1971 World Series champs and was there when Roberto Clemente collected hit #3,000, tucking the ball in his back pocket for safekeeping. 
• 2023 - The Pirates defeated the Cardinals, 5-0, at Busch Stadium with several notable performances. First, Vince Velasquez went six scoreless frames for first time since 2021 to give the Bucs their first shutout in St. Louis since 2013. It was a good night for duets - Connor Joe & Rodolfo Castro hit back-to-back homers, Carlos Santana banged two doubles/two RBIs and Ji Hwan Bae made two grand larceny grabs in center, one coming on a dive for a flare and the other a run-saving, wall-kissing fence crasher. One painful pairing was losing Oneil Cruz and then JT Brubaker to surgery during a three-day period earlier in the week. Still, it was the seventh win in the last 10 games for Pittsburgh, leaving them just 1/2 game behind the Brewers in the division.