4/21 From 1980: Dunne-Quinones; Slammin' Ike; Record Rally; Kip B-Day Dubs; Slow Starts; Cobra Court; Game Tales; HBD Brent & Ronny

• 1981 - Ronny Paulino was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He was thought to be the Bucco catcher of the future and started behind the dish in 2006-07. That was enough time to prove he wasn’t the answer and after the 2008 season he was dealt to the Phils for Jason Jaramillo. Paulino spent four years as a Pirate and hit .278, bumping around the league for four more seasons. He finished his career in the Mexican and Dominican leagues after the 2019-20 season. 
• 1986 - The Pirates filed a lawsuit in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court against Dave Parker to cut his deferred contract money. It sought to relieve the club of the $5,312,475 still owed to the OF’er, with the Bucco claim based on his drug testimony which they alleged triggered a clause that forfeited the back pay. He was the only player they sued after the fact, probably due to a combination of Parker playing for another team, not being very popular among the fans, and the Pirates sinking financial condition. A confidential settlement was reached between the club and The Cobra in 1988 before the trial. 
• 1987 - It was a good news, bad news kinda game. The good news was that the Pirates, thanks to some questionable Mets baserunning, turned their first triple play since 1982. With runners on second and third, a one-hopper to second held the runners during a routine 4-3 putout. But for some unknown reason, Darryl Strawberry drifted toward third with Gary Carter standing on it; 1B Sid Bream flipped the ball to shortstop Denny Gonzalez who ran Straw down between bases. While that dance was happening, Carter took off for home, where he was easy pickings for C Junior Ortiz’ tag to complete a 4-3-6-2 triple dip. As for the game at TRS, Barry Bonds and Johnny Ray banged eighth-inning homers to cut the New York lead to 7-6, but Don Robinson was battered for two runs in the ninth to cement the Pirates 16th loss in 17 games to the Metropolitans, 9-6. 
• 1987 - 3B Brent Morel was born in Bakersfield, California. Brent got six years in the show (2010-15), spending his first four campaigns with the White Sox primarily as a depth piece. He finished his MLB career in Pittsburgh after being claimed off waivers, getting into 26 games during 2014-15 and hitting .196. Morel spent his last two pro years in Japan, retiring after the 2017 season. 

Mike Dunne - 1989 Topps

• 1989 - In a deal of hopefuls, the Pirates traded former first round pick OF/1B Mark Merchant along with pitchers Mike Dunne & Mike Walker to the Seattle Mariners for SS Rey Quinones and UT Bill Wilkinson. The change of scenery didn’t help: Dunne worked two more seasons (4-9/5.71 - 29 appearances), Quinones played 71 games for the Pirates, hit .209, and was released to end his career, Wilkinson didn’t play another MLB game, and Merchant never made it to the show, so Walker’s five years/88 outings (3-11-2/5.09) topped the performance list. 
• 1991 - The Pirates became the first MLB team to ever come back from a five-run deficit in an extra inning to rally for victory. After the Cubs scored five times, thanks mostly to a grand slam by Andre Dawson, the Pirates plated six runners in the 11th inning at TRS to claim a 13-12 victory, with Don Slaught's double the game winner. Nine Bucs batted in that frame, collecting two doubles, three singles, three walks and a sac fly as they small-balled their way to a big inning. Bob Patterson was charged with giving up three runs in an inning of work, but was credited with the win. The loss was pinned on former Pirate Mike Bielecki. The extra-inning comeback was just the second of two late rallies; the Bucs were losing, 7-2, going into the eighth. An Orlando Merced triple and Bobby Bo homer cut the lead to one and then the Bucs tied it in the ninth on a two-out Gary Varsho double. It was a true team win: nine Pirates chipped in with RBI and eight players scored. Orlando Merced made his first career start (he appeared in 776 games, starting in 643, during his seven years as a Pirate) while going 2-for-4 with a triple, a pair of walks, two RBI and a run scored. 
• 1992 - The Bucs scored five times in the first inning and held on to beat the Expos, 8-7, at Olympic Stadium. Andy Van Slyke put the Bucs ahead in the first with a two-run triple and finished with three RBI. Barry Bonds went deep in the third inning to make it 6-2 Pittsburgh. Vicente Palacios picked up the win in relief with two scoreless frames while Roger Mason earned the save. 
• 2002 - The Pirates won their sixth straight game and 7-of-8 by a 9-3 count over the Phils at PNC Park to run their record to 12-5. The Bucs had a 2-1/2 game lead in the division after the triumph, but by mid-May they were below .500 and finished with 72 victories, 24-1/2 games out of the top spot. The Buccos ran up a five-spot in the second to ice the game, keyed by a two-out, bases-loaded triple by Jason Kendall. Abraham Nunez led the parade with three hits, including a double, two steals and three runs scored to plow the road for Kip Wells and his b-day dub. 

Abraham Nunez - 2002 Topps

• 2005 - Kip Wells liked working on his birthday; he and the Bucs defeated the Reds, 4-2, on his 28th trip around the sun. He worked five innings, giving up three hits but with five walks to amass 104 pitches. Kip left with the lead and four relievers put up zeroes behind him, with Jose Mesa earning the save. Jason Bay swung the big bat with three hits, including one that left GABP. 
• 2014 - The Bucs blew an early lead, but an Andrew McCutchen homer in the eighth tied it and Neil Walker’s two-out RBI bloop to right later in the frame was the game winner as the Pirates outlasted Cincinnati, 6-5, at PNC Park. Jared Hughes stranded a pair of Reds in the ninth to earn the win. Ike Davis hit his second grand slam of the year and both were against the Reds, one as a Buc and one as a Met. He became the first player in MLB history to hit two grand slams with two different teams before the end of April and the third player to hit two grand slams against the same opponent for two different teams. 
• 2020 - The Roberto Clemente Museum shared its exhibits and some tales on a live stream for the first time on its Instagram account. Opened in 2007 and located at the old #25 Engine House on Penn Avenue in Lawrenceville, the museum had offered only scheduled tours, but director/curator Duane Rieder decided to provide Bucco fans with a web boost during the coronavirus shutdown of baseball. 
• 2022 - For the 12th time in 13 games, the Pirates' opponents scored first when the Cubs took a 3-0 lead at Wrigley after two innings. But the Bucs had an answer. Daniel Vogelbach cut the lead to a run with a two-run shot in the third inning, then Yoshi Tsutsugo dumped an opposite field, two-out, bases-loaded double to plate another pair of Buccos in the fifth frame. And 4-3 is how it ended as the Pittsburgh relievers (Bryse Wilson started) tossed six shutout innings of one-hit, 10 K ball, a feat that hasn’t been done since 2001. Derek Shelton shot just about all his bullpen bullets - Wil Crowe, Dillon Peters, Heath Hembree, David Bednar and Chris Stratton were called on, with Crowe credited with the win, Stratton the save, and the other three earned a hold. The Pirates squandered a few chances (they were 1-for-9 w/RISP), including a 175’ triple hit by Bryan Reynolds against the shift, tapping a third base line roller that slowly kissed the railing. B-Rey hustled into second, realized no one was covering third base, and so he just kept truckin’ through the turn and took that sack, too. More stuff: per announcer Joe Block, Peters set the longest hitless batter streak in franchise history (since 1974) of 25 hitters. Also, of those dozen games the Bucs started in the hole, they came back to win six. Ironically, they lost the only contest when they scored first.