4/20 From 1985: Teke Traded, B-Rey & Tuck Debut, Wakefield Gone, 9-In-9th, Basebrawl, Odd Datelines, Game Days, '23 Pgh HoF, Hans Marker

• 1985 - Kent Tekulve’s Pirate career ended after 11+ seasons when he was traded to the Phils for Al Holland. He wasn’t happy with the swap, but the next day, he pitched two shutout innings for Philadelphia after traveling overnight to join his new club. The 38-year-old became a set-up man there and remained rubber-armed, appearing in 291 games in four years with a 24-26-25/3.01 line in Philly before finishing out his final campaign with the Cincinnati Reds. 
• 1986 - The Pirates and Cubs played 13 innings, only to have their game at Wrigley Field suspended due to darkness after four hours and 48 minutes and the score tied 8-8 after the Cubs scored three times in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings. The contest was completed on August 11th with the Bucs winning 10-8 in 17 innings. The total game time from start-to-finish was six hours and nine minutes. Johnny Ray & Joe Orsulak combined for seven hits and five runs while Sid Bream and Steve Kemp homered. Barry Jones picked up the win, going four scoreless innings while whiffing eight. Oddly, though Jones wasn’t called up until July, he set the MLB record for whiffs in a debut as a reliever (tied in 2016 by then-Astro Joe Musgrove). It was in actuality his 10th appearance, but the game date reverted back to when the contest’s first pitch was tossed, making it his first outing in the record books. In another similar oddity, rookie Barry Bonds got his first actual hit on May 31st, but was credited by MLB with his first knock on this date (it was actually his 51st hit of the year) when he pinch hit and banged the game-winning single during the makeup date. That at bat, like Jones's appearance, reverted to the match’s original scheduled date. 
• 1987 - It was the kind of game to drive a fan to drink, both to boo-hoo and party. The Pirates had a 5-2 lead over the ‘86 World Series champs, the Mets, at TRS going into the seventh when John Smiley came on to replace Rick Reuschel. A home run and back-to-back two-out walks sent John to the showers and Barry Jones was called in for that third out; instead he served Gary Carter a fat one that he sent over the wall to give New York a 6-5 lead. Hey bartender... But the Buccos proved to be adept copy-cats. Sid Bream smacked his second dinger of the day (he went 4-for-5 with three RBI) off Randy Myer to knot the score and then the Pirates drew consecutive two-out walks. Sound familiar? And the script played out - Doug Sisk was waved in to close the frame and watched Mike Diaz loft a ball into the stands for another two-out, three-run blast. That gave Pittsburgh its pad back at 9-6 and Logan Easley took care of business for the final two innings to get credit for the win, his first MLB victory, while breaking a 15-game losing streak to the Big Apple club to turn it into happy hour. Johnny Ray also homered while RJ Reynolds had a three-hit night. 

Randy Tomlin - 1992 Topps Stadium Club

• 1992 - The Pirates turned a pitching duel between Randy Tomlin and Montreal’s Ken Hill on its ear with a nine-run outburst in the ninth to defeat the Expos at Olympic Stadium, 11-1. The inning was highlighted by a Kirk Gibson grand slam and a three-run shot by Barry Bonds, only the second time in MLB history that a team has swatted a grannie and a three-run dinger in the ninth frame. Tomlin earned the win with help from Dennis Lamp and Stan Belinda. 
• 1995 - Pittsburgh released knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. He was picked up a week later by Boston, where he spent the next 17 seasons, tossing over 3,000 innings and winning 186 games. He was a wild child for the Buccos, but mastered the flutterer in the Red Sox system under the tutelage of Phil and Joe Niekro. They also sent 1B Kevin Young & C Angel Encarnacion to the AAA Calgary Cannons and placed pitchers Steve Cooke and Rick White on the DL. Later in the week, 3B John Wehner and RHP John Ericks were also bumped down to Calgary. 
• 1998 - Pennsylvania placed a state memorial plaque, sponsored by the local historical society, at 605 Beechwood Avenue in Carnegie, near the site of Honus Wagner's birthplace, to honor the Pirates Hall of Fame shortstop. Hans had been born in Chartiers, now part of Carnegie, in 1874 to an immigrant coal mining family, playing for local sandlot and company teams until he joined the local semi-pro Mansfield Indians and began his road to Cooperstown. 
• 2009 - Ross Ohlendorf tossed the Bucs’ fourth shutout of the season (in 13 games), giving up two hits in seven innings, in an 8-0 win over Florida to end the Marlins’ seven-game winning streak. The Bucs had recorded just two shutouts in all of 2008. Nate McLouth gave Ohlie all the support he needed by driving in four runs, three touching home after a sixth-inning homer. 

Ohlie - 2009 Upper Deck

• 2014 - Milwaukee topped the Pirates 3-2 in 14 frames on Easter at PNC Park, but the game took a back seat to the on-field action in the third inning. Brewer Carlos Gomez admired a ball that didn’t quite get out of the yard. He made it to third and Gerrit Cole let him have it verbally for hot-dogging it. Gomez went after Cole, the benches emptied and a basebrawl broke out. Travis Snider went after Gomez, Rickie Weeks grabbed him by the arms and Martin Maldonado took advantage to poke a defenseless Lunch Box, leaving him with a shiner. Maldonado was suspended five games, Gomez received a three-game suspension (he also threw his helmet at the Bucco mob), and Snider was suspended two games. Fran Cervelli later challenged pugilist Maldonado to an off season boxing match for charity, but was never taken up on the offer. As for the game, Neil Walker had three hits, including a homer, but Khris Davis’ extra-inning blast off Jeanmar Gomez carried the day (all three Milwaukee runs were solo dingers, including the ninth-inning game-knotter by Ryan Braun off Jason Grilli) to overcome eight strong innings of six-hit, one-run ball spun by Cole. 
• 2019 - A couple of Bucs made their MLB debuts, starting in a 3-1 win v the Giants at PNC, and both collected their first big league hits. Leadoff hitter/SS Cole Tucker’s swat was the game-winner in the fifth when he banged a two-out, two-strike, two-run homer just before a lightning storm accompanied by a downpour shortened the match. A former Giant farmhand, Bryan Reynolds, also took his bow in left field, batting fifth, and went 1-for-2. Though Cole’s day was more auspicious, in the long run B-Rey proved to be the keeper. Jameson Taillon was the victor. 
• 2023 - The Pirates rode some early two-out lightning, Ke'Bryan Hayes’ mitt and Roansy Contreras' arm to a 4-3 victory against the Reds at PNC Park. With two on and two away in the first, Connor Joe hammered a full-count heater into the bullpen and Jack Suwinski followed with another blast to make it 4-0. Contreras kept the string of strong starting pitching going, going 6-2/3 innings and giving up one run on five hits with eight K while tossing the staff’s 10th straight quality start. Key’s glove saved a potential big inning when he dove into the hole and threw a strike to second from his knees to begin a DP, with Carlos Santana making a nice scoop to complete the twin killing. The Reds picked up a pair in the eighth to add some drama, but David Bednar tucked them away in the ninth to earn his sixth save. The 13-7 Buccos were on a roll, winning their fourth straight game and fifth-in-six. Just before the first pitch, the Bucs announced their second class of team Hall-of-Famers: pitchers ElRoy Face, Bob Friend and Kent Tekulve, along with shortstop Dick Groat.