- 1960 - Sandy Koufax was doing Sandy Koufax things all night at Forbes Field, topping the Bucs, 1-0, at Forbes Field. The southpaw gave up one hit, a single to his mound opponent Bennie Daniels, and offset a wild streak of six walks by fanning 10 while going the distance. The second frame was the Pirates' best chance when they loaded the bases with two outs, but couldn’t cash in; only one other Bucco runner reached second. Daniels was pretty sharp himself, giving up four hits and whiffing six in seven frames before Roy Face finished up. It was scoreless into the seventh, when Norm Larkin led off with a two-bagger and scored two outs later on Tommy Davis’ double. It was a frustrating loss, but proved to be a minor bump on the road to the World Series for the Bucs.
- 1963 - The Bucs sent OF Bob Skinner to the Reds for Jerry Lynch, who started his career in Pittsburgh. Lynch spent his last four years as a Pirate and set the MLB pinch hit home run record of 18 (since surpassed by Matt Stairs) while in a Bucco uniform. Skinner spent nine seasons with Pittsburgh, compiling a .280 BA, and lasted five more years in the show.
- 1965 - The Pirates came to Milwaukee in the throes of an eight game losing streak and left with a three-game sweep of the Braves at County Stadium, taking a 10-1 victory in the series finale, with the match iced by an Andre Rodgers grand slam. Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski each had three hits to back Bob Veale’s complete game, four-hit performance. The combo of the sad sack Pirates and some chilly weather didn’t do much to line the owners’ pockets - the set drew just 7,394 fans for the three contests, with the biggest crowd being 2,679 for the Friday night series opener. Of course, the fact that the Braves announced their move to Atlanta just a week or two prior to the series probably didn’t help spin the turnstiles, either. After the relocation, Milwaukee went without MLB ball until 1970 when the Brewers (nee Seattle Pilots) arrived.
- 1978 - Reliever Mike Gonzalez was born in Corpus Christi. He was drafted by the Pirates and pitched his first four seasons (2003-06) in Pittsburgh. Gonzo became a rare LH closer in 2006, earning 24 saves before being sent to Atlanta in the off season as part of the Adam LaRoche deal. He worked for six teams and last pitched in the majors in 2013 for the Brewers.
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| John Candelaria - 1984 Topps Sticker |
- 1984 - Bucco lefty John Candelaria struck out 12 batters in eight innings of work as the Pirates beat Cincinnati, 7-2, at TRS. It was Candy Man’s fourth win of the year. The Pirates took the lead with six runs in the fifth inning and never looked back. Catcher Tony Pena went 3-for-4 with a triple, but lineup balance was the game story - eight Bucs had hits, seven scored, and six drove in runs.
- 1985 - The Pirates fired GM Pete Peterson and replaced him with former GM Joe Brown; ironically, Peterson had taken Brown’s spot back in 1976. Pittsburgh was in last place in the division and last in attendance, too, prompting owner John Galbraith to pull the trigger. Joe steered the club until November, when Syd Thrift was named GM and Jim Leyland replaced Chuck Tanner. Pete eventually caught on with the Yankees, then joined the Padres and Blue Jays before retiring in 1995.
- 1988 - RHP Vic Black was born in Amarillo, Texas. The Bucs first round pick in 2009 (49th overall) from Dallas Baptist University, he was called to the show briefly for Pittsburgh in 2013 before being traded to the Mets as part of the Marlon Byrd deal. He looked like a steal for New York with a two-year line of 5-3-1/2.63 in 56 outings, but injuries to his neck and shoulder derailed his career. 2014 was his last MLB season; he retired in 2018 after serving minor/indie league stints, returning as a minor league pitching mechanics coordinator for the Pirates in 2020.
- 1989 - John Smiley struck out nine batters and tossed a complete game in a 5-2 victory over Zane Smith and the Braves in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Glenn Wilson had two hits, including a two-run homer, to lead the attack. The win was Smiley’s fifth in a row en route to winning 12 games for the Bucs that year. The 24-year-old’s 1989 campaign would see him set personal full-time bests in ERA (2.81) and WHIP (1.086) on the road to a 20-win season in 1991.
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| Tyler Beede - 2022 photo/Pirates-MLB |
- 1993 - RHP Tyler Beede was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. A first round pick of the Giants in 2014 (14th overall) from Vanderbilt, the highly regarded prospect never lived up to his hype at the Bay (5-11/5.39) and was converted from starter to the pen after 2020 TJ surgery. “Beedah” was DFA’ed in 2022 after serious control issues and claimed by the Pirates as a change of scenery candidate. Pittsburgh used him as a spot starter and out of the pen before DFA’ing him in September. Tyler spent 2023 tossing in Japan and he’s now in the Cleveland system.
- 1998 - Jason Kendall had a big if somewhat painful day at Pro Players Stadium against Florida in Pittsburgh’s 10-4 victory. After his first inning single knocked in a run, he was rewarded with a pair of HBPs. Kendall responded to the bruise cruise with a double & single to plate two more runs and touched the dish once with his following pair of swings, going 3-for-3 with three RBI. Turner Ward also drove in three runs and Tony Womack scored three times. Jon Lieber went seven frames to earn the win and Ricardo Rincon was credited with the save.
- 1999 - Jason Schmidt left after two innings, with the Florida Marlins up, 5-0, (he missed the next start with “dead arm”). But the Bucs came all the way back at Pro Player Stadium to win, 6-5, by putting on a nickel and dime clinic against the Fish. They plated their runs on a sac fly, a grounder, an single/error followed by a rap, a wild pitch/missed catch, a double play and then scored the winner in the ninth when Mike Benjamin singled off a glove, went to second on a balk, tagged to third and scored on Al Martin’s blooper that barely cleared short. The comeback victory was made possible by a great bullpen effort: Jeff Wallace took home the win and the save went to Mike Williams following Chris Peters and Brad Clontz.
- 2010 - Ryan Doumit had himself a day as the Bucs walked off with a 3-2, 10-inning win over Atlanta in front of a Sunday crowd of 23,045 fans at PNC Park. The Pirates left the bases loaded in the seventh (Pittsburgh was 1-for-9 w/RISP), failing to add to a 2-1 lead, before former Bucco Eric Hinske homered off Evan Meek to tie the game in the eighth. The match went on quietly until with two outs in the 10th, Dewey jumped on Takashi Saito’s first pitch and knocked it over the Clemente Wall for the first (and only) walkoff big fly of his career. The blast gave Octavio Dotel the win against the Bravos in a contest started by Zach Duke. Doumit’s three hits led the batting parade while Aki Iwamura and Andrew McCutchen added a pair of knocks apiece.
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| Ryan Doumit - 2010 Topps Heritage |
- 2016 - In one of PNC Park’s scarier moments, witnessed by 34,529 fans, Pirates pitcher Ryan Vogelsong was hit in the face with an 0-2 fastball by the Rockies (and future Bucco) Jordan Lyles in the second inning and was carted off the field with facial fractures. Ryan was temporarily blinded in one eye, but his vision slowly recovered after surgery, and against the odds he returned to the mound on August 4th and pitched six strong innings. The Bucs, btw, won the match against Colorado by a 6-3 score (Wilfredo Boscan got his first MLB win) and Lyles was introduced to instant karma - he lost the game and then was sent to the minors the next day.
- 2019 - Colorado had run away with the first two games of the series at PNC Park and were threatening to sweep, but today the worm turned. The Pirates scored four runs in the first and had an 8-0 lead after four frames with their unlikely early season ace, Jordan Lyles, on the hill. But with two outs in the sixth (he had retired 14 Rox in a row), the wheels came off - the Rocky Mountain gang banged out five hits with a pair of walks against Lyles and Geoff Hartlieb to close the count to 8-6. It made the fans reach for the nitro tabs, but proved to be the Rockies last hurrah as the Pirates swatted three long balls in the seventh (Bryan Reynolds, Josh Bell, Starling Marte) and cruised to a 14-6 win. Lyles got the dub, though his ERA jumped from 1.97 to 2.81. The Pirates collected 15 hits (three each from Colin Moran and Bell) with Gregory Polanco also going deep. It was the biggest offensive output of the season for Pittsburgh and its largest margin of victory.
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