4/17 From 1960: Game Tales - AJ Day, B-2-B, Smiley 1-Hitter, Batfests, A-Ram Rock, Happy Feet, Shea Opener, Gibbon Debut; SI Maury; Barbato Deal; HBD Deolis & Andy

• 1960 - LHP Joe Gibbon made his MLB debut in the second game of a twinbill against the Reds at Forbes Field in front of 16,196 fans, coming in to mop up with the Pirates down, 5-0, in the eighth. He tossed a pair of scoreless innings and the rambunctious Bucs scored six times in the ninth to give him the 6-5 win, his first big league victory. Bill Mazeroski had an RBI knock, Hal Smith banged a three-run pinch hit homer and Bob Skinner walked it off with a two-run, two-out blast off Ted Wieand after Dick Groat kept it alive with a single through the box. The Hound was mobbed at the plate by the fans (he told Les Biederman of the Press “They seemed to come from all directions and converged on home plate. They just about carried Dick Groat and me into the dugout. Or maybe I was just walking on air.”) while Reds skipper Fred Hutchinson broke several chairs after he stomped into the visitors' locker room. The Bucs won the opener, 5-0, behind Bob Friend's four-hitter; he K’ed six. Skinner, Groat, Roberto Clemente (HR & 3B) and Dick Hoak each had two hits apiece; Dick Stuart tripled and chased home three runs. 
• 1964 - The Pirates defeated the Mets, 4-3, before 48‚736 fans in the first game played at Shea Stadium, with Bob Friend going the distance to earn the win over Cuban righty Ed Bauta. In the second inning, Willie Stargell smacked the first home run ever hit at the ballyard off starter Jack Fisher for the first of Pops' four hits - he was a triple shy of the cycle - on the day. Roberto Clemente and Donn Clendenon added three raps apiece as the Bucs banged out 16 hits, but kept it interesting by stranding 13 runners. 
• 1967 - Maury Wills was the cover boy for Sports Illustrated’s “Baseball 1967” issue. In his first year as a Buc, he hit .302 with 92 runs and 29 swiped sacks after coming to town from LA in exchange for Bob Bailey and Gene Michael. 

• 1968 - The Pirates ran wild on the Houston Astros, taking a 13-4 win at Forbes Field in front of 30,799 fans. The Bucs banged out 17 hits (Maury Wills and Milt May had three, while Gene Alley, Donn Clendenon, Billy Maz and Pops had a pair; everyone in the lineup had at least one rap and either scored or drove home a run, with six doing both) and stole five bases, with Clendenon swiping home while Wills took second and third in one trip. Manny Mota even got into the act, scoring from first on a single that dropped 30’ behind third base, running through coach Alex Grammas’ “whoa” and catching ‘Stro OF’er Jim Wynn napping. Al McBean was the recipient of the runfest, going the distance despite giving up 10 hits. 
• 1973 - Coach Andy Barkett was born in Miami, Florida. The former OF/1B had a major league career of one month, spent in Pittsburgh (he did hit .305) in 2001. After a long tour of duty in the minors, Andy started coaching in the Marlins system in 2010, moved on to Detroit and then became the minor league hitting coach for the Pirates in 2016. He got the manager’s job at Indy when Dean Treanor left to become the Marlins bullpen coach in 2017, then worked with Boston for three years. He’s now a minor league hitting instructor for the Chicago White Sox. 
• 1988 - R.J. Reynolds posted the first four-hit game of his career to lead the Pirates to a 12-7 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He had lots of help: Andy Van Slyke homered twice while Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla also went deep (a 30-MPH wind blowing out helped the cause); that trio collected three hits each. AVS, Bo and RJ had three RBI apiece while Bonds, Bonilla and Van Slyke scored three times. Jeff Robinson’s win in relief of Vincente Palacios left Pittsburgh with an 8-3 mark. 
• 1989 - RHP Deolis Guerra was born in San Felix, Venezuela. The Pirates signed him as a minor league free agent in the 2014 off season and he made his MLB debut with the Bucs as a 26-year-old in June of the following year. He won two games in 10 outings, averaging a K per nine but also posting a 6.48 ERA. Pittsburgh re-signed him to a minor league deal, but he was lost to the Angels via the Rule 5 draft. Guerra has tossed for five teams in his six-year career and is now pitching in Mexico after undergoing TJ surgery in '22. 

Deolis Guerra - 2015 photo Ron Modra/Getty

• 1991 - LHP John Smiley retired the last 23 Mets he faced in front of 14,792 fans at TRS while spinning a one-hit, 4-0, shutout. Smiley fanned four with no walks on 111 pitches, the only hit a fly-ball single that LF Gary Varsho misread. The Pirates finally broke away from Ron Darling thanks to Jeff King’s two-run shot (he also had seven assists from 3B, several of which were hot shots); the match was a 1-0 seventh inning duel before Jeff’s bomb. The first and last runs were unearned gifts from New York as the Bucs could only muster five hits themselves. 
• 1999 - The Pirates jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first at Cinergy Field, but it took them 10 frames to finally secure a 7-6 win over the Reds. The Pirates opening frame outburst was primed by a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double by Brant Brown. Cincy chipped away at four Bucco pitchers to tie it in the seventh only to see the Bucs reclaim the game when Warren Morris’ ground ball single to right scored Abraham Nunez. Brown led Pittsburgh with three hits; the Pirates had 11 knocks and were helped by 10 Redleg walks (Pirates pitchers issued seven free passes). Jason Christiansen tossed the last two innings for the win. 
• 2002 - Lloyd McClendon gave five regulars the day off and a later bit of snit cost him Aramis Ramirez, but he still had enough firepower to eke past the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2, at Miller Park. Pitcher Dave Williams blooped a two-run, two-out flare in the second to provide the bulk of the Bucco attack, then bopped Geoff Jenkins in the Brew Crew half. Ben Sheets paid it back by drilling Ramirez in the butt in the following frame, triggering A-Ram to charge the mound while flinging his helmet at Sheets, who responded by zipping his mitt at the Pirates infielder. The teams met at the mound quickly for a little jaw session before the two protagonists were ejected. The Brewers tied it up in the fourth frame thanks to a walk and error before Brant Brown’s fifth-inning homer provided the final margin. Williams went five innings for the win, with help from Mike Lincoln, Brian Boehringer, Joe Beimel, and a save by Mike Williams. The three-game brooming of the Brew Crew gave the Buccos their first road sweep since 2000. 
• 2011 - Andrew McCutchen (3-for-3 w/two walks) and Jose Tabata led off the game with back-to-back home runs off Edinson Volquez, the third time that had been done in club history. The Pirates scored four times in the opening inning and outlasted the Cincinnati Reds, 7-6, at Great American Ball Park. Garrett Jones also homered and had two knocks. The Bucs went through six pitchers in the game, with Chris Resop getting the win and Joel Hanrahan closing out for the save.

Cutch - 2011 Bowman Platinum

• 2013 - AJ Burnett had a no-hitter going against the Cards at PNC Park, carrying the no-no into the seventh before Carlos Beltran banged a double. It was a big day for AJ; he also went over the 2,000 mark in career strikeouts with eight whiffs and no walks. The last two innings were closed out by Mark Melancon, Tony Watson and Jason Grilli as the Bucs won, 5-0, behind a balanced attack - nine different Buccos had hits, with Cutch and Neil Walker collecting a pair of knocks each. 
• 2014 - The Pirates broke open an early pitching duel with the Brew Crew when they scored nine runs in the seventh and eighth innings to blow past Milwaukee at PNC Park, 11-2. The offense was primed by four long balls off the bats of Andrew McCutchen, Josh Harrison, Gaby Sanchez and Pedro Alvarez. Edinson Volquez went seven innings to claim his first victory as a Bucco. 
• 2017 - RHP Johnny Barbato, 24, was traded by the New York Yankees to the Pirates for a PTBNL (RHP Matt Frawley). He broke camp with the Bucs, was sent to Indy in June and came back in August, pitching to a 0-1/4.08 line in 24 MLB outings. He was waived in the off season and claimed by the Tigers. Johnny later tossed in Japan for a year and retired in 2022; he’s now an indie league coach. 
• 2023 - The final score of 14-3 conjured up visions of a Steelers-Broncos clash, but it was the final count of the Bucs victory over the Rockies at Coors Field. 43-year-old Rich Hill won his first game as a Pirate with lots of help. Mark Mathias had a career-high four hits, and four other guys - Ke’Bryan Hayes (three RBI), Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen (homer) and Carlos Santana (three RBI) added a pair of raps while Ji Hwan Bae scored three times and drove home two.