- 1969 - The ‘Stros were cruising with a 6-3 lead going into the sixth at the Astrodome when the Bucs erupted. They cut the lead to a run via some small ball and then came the blast; Roberto Clemente launched a grand slam. It was his only hit, but he scored three times with an intentional walk, HBP and stolen base while adding an outfield assist to his basket. The Bucs banged out 15 hits, with Freddie Patek and Matty Alou chipping in three each, in the 13-8 victory. Houston helped - they committed four errors, leading to three unearned runs. Steve Blass got the win with Bruce DalCanton and Chuck Hartenstein mopping up.
- 1977 - Dave Parker was featured as the cover story of The Sporting News in an article titled “Wham.” He was a National League whammy during the campaign, leading the league with a .338 BA, 215 hits and 44 doubles to go with 21 HR, 88 RBI and 107 runs scored to earn his first All-Star berth with six more appearances to follow, three with the Pirates.
- 1982 - Lee Lacy, playing in place of an injured Dave Parker, lined a Larry Christenson curveball over the wall in right center with one away in the ninth to give the Bucs a 1-0 victory over the Phils at Veterans Stadium. Teke Tekulve tossed three frames of one-hit ball for the win in support of John Candelaria’s strong six-inning start as the pair combined for the Pirates first shutout of the campaign. Christenson went the distance, striking out 11 Bucs.
- 1985 - The Pirates romped over the Cards, 13-2, at TRS. All 12 Bucs with an at-bat had hits (five had multi-hit days) and 11 scored and/or drove in a run. Joe Orsulak led the parade with three hits while Tony Pena and Bill Madlock homered. Rick Reuschel went seven innings for the win; he added two raps and three RBI to the cause, with Al Holland closing the book.
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| Brock Holt - 2013 Topps |
- 1988 - OF/IF Brock Holt was born in Fort Worth, Texas. Taken in the ninth round of the 2009 draft by the Bucs, he played some in 2012 for Pittsburgh, hitting .292, before being sent to Boston as part of the Mark Melancon trade. He soon became a valued plug-in guy for the BoSox, hitting .270 and playing every position but pitcher & catcher during his seven years in Beantown. Brock’s last couple of seasons were nomadic and he last played in 2021.
- 1990 - After the Bucs batted in the third inning at Busch Stadium, it was 6-0 in their favor. By the time the Cards finished in the seventh frame, it was 6-6. That woke up the Pirates; they answered in the eighth with a Chico Lind leadoff double. He scored on Jeff King’s single, and JK became an insurance run after Jay Bell’s second triple of the match. And they needed it; the Redbirds led off their half with three straight singles to pull within a run before eventual winner Bill Landrum settled in to close the gate the rest of the way for an 8-7 victory. The top of the order - King, Bell and Andy Van Slyke - banged six hits (three triples and a double), drew five walks, scored six times and drove in five. Barry Bonds added three more raps during a 14-hit attack.
- 2000 - The Bucs scored three runs in the first, five in the 10th and not much in between, but it was a strong enough mix to down the Kansas City Royals, 10-6, at Kauffman Stadium. Warren Morris and Adrian Brown combined for eight hits, three RBI and six runs at the top of the lineup while Brian Giles was the big gun at crunch time, driving in three clutch runs with a game-tying double in the ninth and then banging a two-run homer in the 10th.
- 2001 - Kevin McClatchy fired GM Cam Bonifay after seven losing seasons featuring several costly and questionable free agent signings, replacing him with interim GM Roy Smith. Dave Littlefield was named the full-time replacement a month later. Littlefield couldn’t get the Bucs’ motor running either (he was generally forced to make moves for financial rather than baseball reasons) and was swapped out for Neal Huntington in September, 2007.
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| A-Ram - 2003 Topps |
- 2003 - Aramis Ramirez extended his hitting streak to 22 games by going 3-for-5 against the Blue Jays at the SkyDome in an 8-5 loss and bringing his batting average up to .309; it had been sitting at a sickly .218 on May 14th the day before he began his run. Toronto’s Mark Hendrickson and Aquilino Perez teamed up to end A-Ram’s string the next day.
- 2005 - The Pirates exploded for 20 hits to beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 18-2, pushing across the most runs scored by the club at PNC Park as the Bucs scored three times in the opening frame and never looked back. Jose Castillo homered and knocked in a team-high five runs. Daryle Ward had four RBI and Ryan Doumit had three hits and three RBI. Seven Buccos had two or more hits. Ollie Perez struck out 10 batters in seven innings for the win.
- 2013 - First overall pick of the 2011 draft, RHP Gerrit Cole, made his MLB debut at PNC Park and earned an 8-2 win over the San Francisco Giants in front of 30,614 fans; some 10,000 were walk-ups who rolled to the North Shore just to see Cole Train in action. Gerrit pitched to contact, giving up two runs on seven hits with two K in 6-1/3 innings, using up just 81 pitches and registering 99 on the radar gun a couple of times during the evening. Pedro Alvarez went 3-for-3 with a homer, two runs scored and three RBI to spark the Bucco attack.
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| Nick Gonzales - 2024 Topps Golden Mirror |
- 2020 - On the first night of the five-round draft, the Pirates chose SS Nick Gonzales with their first pick (7th overall - New Mexico State), a guy who sported a good stick but was switched to 2B. He signed for $5.4M, slot value, and after a not-so-impressive 35-game run in ‘23, he incorporated his lessons and claimed the position after starting 2024 at Indy. They next landed righty Carmen Mlodzinksi with their competitive balance pick (#31, South Carolina) and agreed to a $2M bonus, $300K under slot. He was sharp out of the pen in’23, but the ride was bumpier in ‘24. The next day, the Bucs took RHP Jared Jones, a Texas commit, in the second round (#44: La Mirada HS CA) and inked him to a $2.2M deal, roughly $500K over slot. It was worth it; he slotted into the ‘24 rotation and joined Mitch Keller and Paul Skenes to form a young core going forward. They closed the action by taking three more righties - Nick Garcia (#79, Chapman U; $1.2M, $400K over slot), Jack Hartman (#108, Appalachian State), and Logan Hofmann (#138, Northwestern State). They all signed by July 2nd. Garcia and Hartman were traded for Connor Joe and Ji-Man Choi while Hoffman stumbled and is now pitching in the MLB-affiliate Frontier League.
- 2023 - Andrew McCutchen had a list of milestones to check off during his second tour with the Bucs, and he nailed a big one on this day, lining a leadoff single to left for his 2,000th career hit to become just one of five active players in the 2K club. The crowd of 26,770 at PNC Park gave him an ovation and congratulatory messages flashed across the scoreboard. It was a deja vu moment; Cutch’s first hit was on June 4th, 2009, also against the Mets at PNC Park as the Bucs’ first batter. Mitch Keller had a strong outing to run his record to 8-2 with David Bednar picking up save #14 in a 2-1 victory. In the fourth, Jack Suwinski hit a solo shot, then Tucupita Marcano singled home Ji Hwan Bae, who had doubled, and Keller & Company made the two runs hold up.
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