6/5 From 1970: Robby Rips, Dunne Debut, KY Grannie, Matt Sixer, Bop Fest, Game Days, Jay POTM, Jose POTW, HBD Heandog

1976 - McKeesport’s Bill Robinson hit three homers and drove home four runs, but the Pirates lost in 15 innings to the San Diego Padres at Three Rivers Stadium, 11-9. Pittsburgh scored three times in the ninth, the rally built around Dave Parker’s triple, to send the game into overtime. The Bucs had 18 hits - Robby had four, Rennie Stennett three, and Parker, Al Oliver, Willie Stargell & Frank Taveras each added a pair. Ramon Hernandez took the loss.

1987 - RHP Mike Dunne, 24, made his major league debut against the New York Mets and Dwight Gooden at Shea Stadium. Mike joined the club as part of the April 1 Tony Pena trade with St. Louis when the Pirates reportedly chose him as the pitching piece over LHP Joe McGrane. He took the loss in a so-so-opener, but the rest of the year was an eye-opener as Dunne’s line was 13–6/3.03. He finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting to Benito Santiago and won The Sporting News NL Pitching ROTY award. But after that blazing start, injuries haunted him for much of the rest of his career. He was dealt to the Seattle Mariners in ‘89, later pitching for the San Diego Padres and then the White Sox. His last big league game was in 1992 with Chicago. 

1991 - LHP Andrew Heaney was born in Oklahoma City. He was a first round pick out of Oklahoma State in 2012 by Miami, and the veteran back end starter (he worked for the Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Texas Rangers) signed with the Bucs shortly before camp in 2025. In 12 MLB campaigns, he posted a 51-62/4.44/95 ERA+ line and was plugged into the rotation. He went 5-10/5.39, was released, joined the Dodgers and retired in 2025. 

1992 - With two gone in the 10th of a 4-4 game at TRS against New York, Jay Bell tripled on a 3-2 pitch by going oppo and kissing the right field line, Andy Van Slyke was worked around, and Barry Bonds was walked intentionally to fill the bases with the pitcher’s spot due up. Jimmy Leyland sent up skipper-to-be Lloyd McClendon to swing, and his liner to left off John Franco walked off a 5-4 Bucco win over their New York nemesis in front of 23,957 fans. Stan Belinda got the win in a game that Zane Smith started, and Zane was a big part of the win, with his two-run double off David Cone being the Pirates biggest hit of the night. It was a clutch dub, with Pittsburgh gaining distance from both the Cards (2-1/2 games back) and the Mets (down three games). 

Zane Smith - 1992 Fleer

2001 - The Pirates snapped a lot of streaks in their 5-2 win over the Marlins at Pro Player Stadium. First, it ended a five-game losing skid with a rare win on the road, where they had the worst record in the majors (7-22 going into the game). Next, it broke a run of 17 games without a loss by the game’s starter, Florida’s Brad Penny. Finally, Kevin Young ended his six-week home run drought with a sixth-inning grand slam that gave starter and winner Jason Schmidt, followed by Jose Manzanillo and Mike Williams, who earned the save, some wriggle room to work with. One streak that stayed alive was Jason Kendall’s hitting spree, which reached 12 straight games. 

2005 - OF Matt Lawton had reached base six straight times without scoring. As Dejan Kovacevich of the Post Gazette wrote “He took it upon himself to get the job done in the most emphatic way he could: Send it for a swim.” Matt cleared the roof in right field, the ball landed on the grassy slope and merrily bounded into the Allegheny during a 5-2 win over the Braves at PNC Park. The big blow was Rob Mackowiak’s two-run homer in the sixth frame to break a tie and put the Pirates up by a pair. Lawton and Mack led with three hits. Ollie Perez, who gave up four raps and fanned seven in seven frames, got the win with a Jose Mesa save. 

2006 - Jason Bay was named the NL Player of the Month and Jose Castillo the Player of the Week. Bay banged away at a .321 clip with 12 HR and 35 RBI while Castillo hit .478 with four homers and 15 RBI and posted an impressive .366 average through May. Jason kept up the good work all season, winning his second straight All-Star berth with a .286 BA, 35 dingers and 109 RBI. Jose, not so much - he finished the year batting .253 with 14 home runs. 

Starling Marte - 2015 Topps Tier One

2015 - Starling Marte went deep with three RBI/three runs scored, Neil Walker swatted a three-run homer, and Fran Cervelli matched his career-high with four hits as Pittsburgh outslugged Atlanta, 10-8, at Turner Field for their fourth straight win. Despite a 14-hit attack, the Pirates had to beat off a game Braves club that also banged out 14 hits off six Corsair pitchers. The Bucs fielders also helped the Bravos stay alive, committing four errors that led to a pair of unearned runs, but the bats overcame the gloves to allow starter Charlie Morton to run his record to 3-0 after Mark Melancon finally closed the contest for save #17. 

2023 - The Pirates were on a five-game winning streak while the visiting Oakland A’s had the worst record in baseball and were on a 14-game road losing streak, but hidden vigorish quickly reared its ugly head as Pittsburgh fell behind 3-0. With the score 3-1 in the sixth, the Bucs rallied to take the lead with a single followed by four straight walks and capped with a sac fly to go up, 4-3. The A’s tied it in the eighth, but Andrew McCutchen answered in the Corsair half with a sac fly to the right field track that scored Ji Hwan Bae with what became the game-winning tally. Colin Holderman was called on to seal the deal (regular closer David Bednar was on a rest day) and gave up three straight hits, but thanks to Austin Hedges throwing out an Oakland larcenist, he escaped with his first MLB save to post Angel Perdomo’s first Pirates victory. The Buccos only had six hits, but ten Oakland walks kept the basepaths occupied. Cutch had a pair of RBI with just one official at-bat; he walked three times with a sac fly. Mark Mathias scored twice with just one knock but two free passes. The win moved the Pirates into first place in the Central Division for the next ten days. And as for the hidden vigorish - it finally kicked in as Oakland won the next two matches. 

2024 - The Pirates piled up seven runs in the second-inning against the Dodgers at PNC Park, and rookie top gun Paul Skenes ran his record to 3-0 as the Bucs took a 10-6 batfest dub in front of 29,716 Wednesday night fans. The Bucs were nothing if not efficient; they only had nine hits, but stranded just four runners over the evening as Nick Gonzales continued to swing a clutch stick with four RBI to help hand James Paxton his first loss of the year. Skenes used 93 pitches in his five frames, giving up three runs on six hits with a walk and eight whiffs; it took five Pittsburgh relievers to get the final dozen outs. It was a U-turn from the previous evening’s series opener when Jared Jones and the pen won a 1-0 gem. The Pirates have taken care of their star rookie; the club had scored 10 runs+ four times so far during the year, and three were during Skenes starts.